Teach Me
by Charlie O'Kelley
Summary: Kate and Rick finally go out on a date and he teaches her lots of new things.  The first chapter is rated T but the rating till rise to M for following chapters. Co-Written with 4evercaskett. ***Now complete! Keep an eye out for the sequel, Teach Me More.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is a collaboration between me and 4evercaskett. We did this together on GoogleDocs and had a blast! I am not sure how long this will be yet but we have several parts finished and several others already plotted out. We are going to try to post one chapter a night for as long as we can.

Disclaimer: We don't own these characters but we probably wouldn't mind borrowing Castle every now and then.

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><p>Chapter One - Baby Steps<p>

Rick sat across from Kate in the small diner that had visited so many times before but tonight was different. They were finally on a real date, not anything fancy, but a real date. He had asked her out as she finished up her paperwork and she accepted, after their meal he was going to pay and then walk her home. Maybe she would allow him to hold her hand on the way and maybe... just maybe, he'd get a goodnight kiss.

They chatted about friends and family while they ate but Kate fell silent for a few moments as she contemplated how she got here tonight. Granted they had gone out to Remy's for burgers before and he often paid but tonight was different. He usually would just say a few words in a questioning manner, such as 'Fancy a burger?' or 'Italian?' and she would nod, stop whatever she was doing and let him feed her. This time was different. He had waited until she was shutting down her computer and then reached for her hand.

"Let me take you out tonight, Kate, anywhere you want."

Kate had realized as soon as the words left Rick's mouth, that this was a date. She had known that this was the first step toward what they both wanted, but she was extremely nervous. Kate had looked at their joined hands for a moment and thought, 'This is it, make it or break it, tonight would determine our future. I can pull away and just treat his invitation as any of the others over the years or I can take that first step.' She took a deep breath and decided.

"OK, Remy's good for you?"

They had smiled at each other as they walked out of the precinct, hands still joined, her free hand twirling her hair. They had still been smiling when they were seated in their usual booth. They had a good dinner but as the date came to a close, Kate started to get a bit more nervous.

"Second date is my choice." Rick whispered in Kate's ear, surprising her a bit with his proximity as they walked out the door, his hand gently on her back as usual. He smiled down at her and her slightly flushed cheeks before he stepped back and hailed a cab.

Kate held her tongue until they were comfortably seated in a south bound taxi. "Nothing extravagant, Castle."

"Low profile, I get it." Rick said with a smile. "That doesn't mean it won't be more romantic than you've ever dream of."

Kate rolled her eyes and then glared at her partner. "If my picture ends up on page 6, you're a dead man."

"Gotcha!" Rick affirmed, and placed his hand over hers.

Kate tensed when she felt Rick's hand cover hers but she didn't pull away. She wanted to move forward with him, she was finally ready to admit that he was her one and done. "I don't want to mess this up, Rick."

Rick brought his other hand up and caressed her cheek, drawing her eyes to his. "You won't. We won't." He leaned in closer and his breath tickled her ear as he continued to convince her. "This is fate, Kate."

"But I don't believe in fate," Kate nervously chuckled to mask the shiver that ran down her body when his lips grazed her flesh.

"I'll teach you," he said as he lightly kissed her earlobe.

The tension drained from her body and she turned to face him. Her eyes locked onto his lips and her tongue came out to moisten her own. "You seem pretty confident of yourself."

Rick let his fingertips lightly trace a line from her cheek to her lips. His eyes were closed and he spoke softly to her as he delicately teased her luscious lips. "I have no doubt about how I feel for you," his mouth moved closer to hers, "And I know you feel it too."

Kate sighed when she felt his lips touch her cheek. "I do, but..." her voice wavered as his lips neared hers and her eyes closed. "Rick."

"We're here, boss," the cabby shouted out as he pulled up to the curb. "Fare is twelve twenty."

Rick mumbled a few swear words as he pulled out his wallet and tossed a twenty to the driver. "Keep the change."

Kate stepped out of the taxi and placed her hand on Rick's chest when he went to follow her, she leaned in and kissed his jawline. "Night, Castle."

The writer slumped back into the seat he had just vacated. He forced a smile for Kate, bid her goodnight, shut the door and gave the driver his address.

x-x-x-x

That night was restless for both partners. Kate beat herself up all night because she had ran from her feelings once again, and Rick didn't sleep because he thought he had pushed Kate too hard. They both had reached for their cell phones several times during the night, wanting to apologize but neither of them worked up the courage to press send.

The ringing of her phone woke Kate just after the sun came up. She growled into the device and mumbled that she'd be there ASAP. She called Castle and informed him of the body drop and told him to be ready in 45 if he wanted to go. Standing in the shower, Kate cursed as she relived every moment about last night and the 2 minute phone call she had just made. 'Would it have killed me to ask how he was?' she thought. 'Dammit! I could have at least said good morning.' She shut off the water, quickly dried off and dressed, pulled her wet hair into a messy bun and exited her apartment.

Rick was standing outside his building and he smiled when he recognized her car as she pulled up. He juggled the items he was holding as she reached across the car and opened the door for him. He handed her the travel mugs full of freshly brewed coffee then climbed into the car and fastened his seat belt. He took back his coffee and as he saw her eyeing his pastry, he asked, "You want a bite of my croissant?"

Kate smiled at him and leaned across the console, her eyes studiously avoiding his. His offer to share his breakfast with her and her willingness to accept the offer meant more than any apologies ever would. Rick thought Kate would take the pastry from him but she just opened her mouth and waited for him to bring it closer.

Rick held his breath as Kate chewed and then swallowed the bite she had taken. "Pretty good, right?"

Kate took a sip of her coffee then tilted her head as she looked at her partner. "You put Nutella on your croissants?" Rick nodded his head, anxiously waiting her approval, glad when she smiled. "It's pretty good, give me another bite."

He held out the buttery confection for her to take another bite before she pulled away from the curb. "What do you know about the crime scene?"

The duo arrived at the crime scene and made their way to the ME and got the preliminary findings, just like any other time. "Whatcha got for me Lanie?"

"Single GSW to the chest, small caliber. ID in his wallet says his name is Lance Mikkelson, and what the Hell is on your mouth Detective?"

Kate looked over to Rick as she brought her hand up to wipe her mouth off. "Did I get it?"

Rick shook his head and made a motion with his hand, trying to show her where the remaining breakfast leftovers were.

Dr. Parrish smirked at her friends when she noticed Rick's dark blue jacket had crumbs near the wrists. "It's all over your coat sleeve too, Castle. What have you two been up to this morning?"

"Oh my God, Lanie!" Kate bellowed. "We had a pastry on the way over here. No touching, no kissing, and no sex. Just breakfast, on the go."

"Damn, girl. No need to take my head off."

Rick decided to play peacemaker. "Can we just focus on the victim?"

"Seriously, Castle?" Lanie asked shocked. "Isn't that Beckett's line?"

"Yeah, Castle," Kate said with a slight smile realizing that she went overboard in her denial.

"But I just, I'm," he stuttered. "I'm going to go help the guys."

The women looked at each other and smiled as he walked away before Lanie spoke. "So, Beckett, what's up?"

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, I just had a long night. I had finally gotten to sleep when Esposito called me."

"If you were with someone then that sounds like a good night to me," Lanie said moving her eyebrows suggestively.

"I was alone, as I already said," Kate said humoring her friend.

"Well, you know I no longer have a sex life so I need to live vicariously with someone."

"Yeah, I don't have one either. So you'll have to find someone else to get your thrills from."

"You know where to find me when that changes though."

"Of course. Can we focus on the case now?"

"That's better. It was just weird hearing Castle say that."

They continued to work the case and soon had some possible leads. They headed back to the precinct and Kate started to write the details that they knew. The following three days showed more and more notes being added to the board until finally they had broken the suspect and he had confessed to the shooting. Beckett sent the perp down to booking with Esposito and Ryan while she started to attack the stack of paperwork that each case brought. She smiled a bit later when she saw Castle taking down the pictures from the murder board and wiping it down.

Rick had told her once, that he had fond memories of wiping down the old timey chalk boards in school. He said that he loved the way the words disappeared and the dust that remained was on his hands and clothes. Now, if anyone asked, he would claim that since he wasn't a real cop, he wasn't able to help with the paperwork, but she knew that he just hated to deal with it. She was always a bit amused by the writer who didn't like paperwork. She signed the last of the papers and knowing that the bullpen was nearly empty, she just watched him for a few moments.

Kate thought about how three nights ago they had finally had a real date but then she pushed him back again. She was trying to take those steps forward and she didn't want to take any more backwards. Castle had been a bit quiet on this case and she was worried that she might have made a major mistake.

"So, Castle..." Kate called out as she drew closer to him. "Any plans for our second date yet?"

Rick's eyes lit up when he realized that Kate was, in her own way, asking him to take her out again. He quickly reached for his phone and started tapping at the screen. "Give me one minute, Beckett."

"Oh. You're a minute man, huh?"

Rick glared at her and then leaned over her shoulder as if he was looking for something on her desk. "It may only take one minute to get me raring to go but I can go... all... night...long."

"That's what they all say," she said unable to move away from him as one arm was on the back of her chair and the other was stretched out to her desk.

"Care to make a wager, detective?" he said as he lightly inhaled the lingering scent of her perfume.

"We haven't even gone out on a second date yet," her eyes met his. "How easy do you think I am?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that," Rick said afraid he had truly put his foot in his mouth.

"I know, Rick," she said sincerely, letting him know that she wasn't mad at him.

"Hey, I'm willing to wait as long as you want," he said before his voice dropped to a husky whisper. "But when we do finally get there... You won't be disappointed."

"I'll be the judge of that," she said, her fingertips lightly touching his chest and pushing him back so she could stand.

Rick held out his arm for her to take. "Shall we?"

"Maybe..." Kate chuckled as she took hold of his arm and let him lead her towards the elevator.

The beginning of the second date was just as pleasant as the beginnings of their first date but more romantic. Castle had found a little out of the way restaurant and gotten a table in the back away from any prying eyes. They both enjoyed their dinner and the company but they both noticed that something wasn't quite right. He was so afraid of making the same mistakes and assumptions he thought he'd made on their first date that he acted completely opposite of that night. Kate noticed the change and that didn't comfort her, it confused her even more, and made her more unsure that what they were attempting to do was ever going to work.

On the way back to her car, Rick never reached for her hand, tried his best not to stare at her, and steered away from most sexual innuendos. She held her tongue until she pulled up to his corner and looking intently at the steering wheel she finally spoke. "Is it just me or do we suck at this part?"

"Oh thank God... You feel it too?" he asked causing her startled eyes to meet his.

"I don't think it's a good thing, Castle. Maybe this dating thing isn't a good idea."

"Kiss me, Kate."

"What?" she asked surprised at the sudden command.

"Kiss me and then tell me that this isn't right."

"I thought you would be a little more romantic about our first kiss, but I guess that's just another thing that I was wrong about," she said trying to hide her disappointment.

"Second kiss," he insisted.

"Technically," she said rolling her eyes.

"You felt it that first time, didn't you? I know I did," he whispered as his hand moved to caress her check. "I remember how you dove back in for more and how you made that sound. I want to hear that again, Kate. I crave the taste of your lips..."

Kate pressed her lips to his and silenced his monologue. At first, the kiss was simple, just a chaste, almost friendly kind of gesture. Yet as soon as Rick parted his lips and his tongue tapped at her lips, the tables turned. Kate unbuckled her seat belt and turned to face him, her hands went into his hair and her teeth came into play. She nipped at his lower lip, then his upper one, and then her tongue soothed over any marks she may have left.

Rick pulled her towards him and moaned when she straddled his lap. His mouth now assaulted and worshipped hers the exact same way she had just done his. One of Rick's hands tangled in her hair, holding her in place as the other slipped down her back resting just above her waistline pressing her closer to him. Kate threw her head back, letting him have access to her neck and arched into him. She felt his erection pressing against her core and growled as she claimed his lips again. She finally broke the kiss when she felt his fingertips slip under the hem of her shirt and slide across her bare skin.

"You can't tell me that this is wrong, Kate," he said as his forehead rested against hers, struggling to catch his breath.

"No, I can't," she whispered. He reached out to kiss her again but she pulled back. Seeing his confusion, she continued, "No, I don't think this is a mistake, but I do think this is pretty fast."

"How long have we both been waiting for this?" he quipped, earning him a glare. "Look Kate, if you want to take this slow, that's fine. You just need to tell me. It's a big step for us. I know this is right but it doesn't mean that it doesn't scare the hell out of me."

"This scares you?" she asked softly.

"Terrifies me," he admitted as he caressed her cheek. "I would loose so much if I screwed this up. I have no problem with slowing things down as long as we keep taking the little steps forward and not backward. I'll wait as long as you need. I promise. And you won't be disappointed," he said suggestively as his thumb traced over her lips.

Kate pulled back a bit and looked at him with some sadness. "I might not be disappointed, but you probably will be."

End Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Kate, you could never disappoint me," Rick said holding her in place, not willing to let her run away again. "Don't run. Please."

"I don't want to, I really want this to work, I just-" she let her thoughts trail off not sure how to say what she needed.

"Why don't you come upstairs and we can talk?" he asked not surprised to see her eyebrow raised at the word talk. "I'm serious, just talk. I can keep my hands to myself if I need to."

"Aren't you going to say 'Scouts honor'?"

"We both know, I wasn't a scout," he smiled glad that she responded in kind. "Talk to me, Kate. I can't help calm your fears if I don't know what you're so afraid of."

"OK, I'll come up, but only for a little while."

"Thank you," he said as his hands rested on her thighs.

"Thought you said you could keep your hands to yourself," she said with a half smile.

"And I reminded you I wasn't a scout," he wiggled his eyebrows, his smile widening as she swatted at his chest. "Where else am I supposed to put my hands right now?"

She followed his gaze down reminding her that she was sitting on his lap and rather intimately. She flushed slightly then moved off his lap to let them both get out of the car.

They entered the darkened loft, kicked their shoes off at the door and made their way to the couch. "You want a drink?"

"No, I'm good."

"Oh, I bet you are," Rick smirked as he sat down beside her.

"No, that's the problem. I'm not."

"You're not what, Kate?"

"I may have led you to believe that I have had quite a few talented lovers and lived a very promiscuous life for a while, but that's not exactly true."

"OK, so you embellished your number a bit. No big deal. I may have too," he admitted.

"You may think it's no big deal now, but... Wait a minute, you've lied about your conquests?"

"Not lied, more like I let people believe what they wanted to. I have been with plenty of women but not as many as the papers claim. And before you ask, you know what they say, no press is bad press."

Kate was happy to find out that Rick's number wasn't as high as she had feared it would be. She nibbled on her lower lip to keep from showing him just how pleased she was. "Thank you for being honest with me. Now it's my turn. Oh, God I can't believe I'm about to tell you this stuff."

"You don't have to tell me anything," he assured her even though he really wanted to know. "I don't need to know about your former lovers."

"I want you to know. You deserve to know what you're settling for." She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and bowed her head. "I don't enjoy sex."

"WHAT?" he exclaimed, immediately regretting his outburst. "There's no way you can kiss me the way you did just a few minutes ago and not have a zeal for sex."

"Oh, I desire it. I just usually end up unsatisfied," she said looking away from him.

"You mean you don't have... orgasms?"

"I said usually, Castle. I do have orgasms, but only when... when I'm alone."

Rick scooted closer to Kate and gave her a sexy smile. "Feel free to go into great detail about the masturbation part."

Kate blushed and then playfully slapped Rick's chest. "I hate that word. It just sounds so... dry."

"If it's dry, you're doing it wrong," he mumbled.

"What?"

Rick realized that Kate had taken offence to his little joke and wanted to apologize or say something to make her smile. "I could have said 'flicking your bean' or 'getting your rocks off' instead," he said, hoping that she would find humor in his explanation. "But those sayings are a bit crass."

"If you're gonna make fun of me, I'll just leave," she stood to do just that but was stopped by his hand circling her wrist.

"Kate, I would never make fun of you," he pleaded. "Don't go and please don't be mad at me."

"One more outburst from you and I'm out that door," she said, hers eyes pleading with him to keep quiet. "Do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, my lips are sealed," he said as he 'zipped' his lips and mimed handing her the key which she placed in her pocket.

They both fell silent until he reached out to take her hand in his, his thumb lightly rubbing circles on her palm. She thought about the last time he rubbed her hand similar to that and tensed up.

"Do you trust me?" he asked softly, tugging on her hand to get her to sit back down beside him.

"Of course, and aren't you supposed to be zipped?" she asked. Rick opened his mouth but wasn't quite sure what to say. "I didn't mean it that way!" she exclaimed once she realized the double meaning.

"I didn't think you did," he said trying, unsuccessfully, to hide his smile.

"This is hard," she said, her eyes widening immediately after she actually heard what she said. Without meaning to, her eyes dropped to his crotch. "I mean-"

"You mean talking about your feelings," he said as he tugged her into his arms. "About your past. I understand, it's difficult for you. Here, turn around and lean back."

"Castle."

"It's Rick, and I can be trusted to behave," he said as he pulled her back to his front. He leaned against the armrest, placed one foot on the floor and the other stretched out alongside hers on the couch. "Sometimes."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm as he grunted. "Was that your side my elbow just hit?"

"Yes it was, my dear. Be good, lie back and tell me your story."

Kate relaxed in his loose embrace, nestled her head against his, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I was a bit of a late bloomer amongst my friends. I didn't lose my virginity until I was 19, just a couple of months after my mom was killed. I had promised her that I would wait for Mr. Right, my one and done, but after she died, I just didn't... I don't know, I just didn't see the point in waiting. I went to a frat party, met a guy and got a little too drunk and well, let's just say he truly was a minute man. I didn't have time to enjoy anything before he was done and passed out."

Rick gave her a gentle squeeze and a kiss on the top of her head, trying to comfort her. He felt bad about her horrible introduction to sex and wished he could have been her first instead of that loser. "I'm sorry."

Kate shrugged her shoulders as if the unpleasant memory didn't bother her. "I don't think he even realized I was a virgin." She turned her head so that her cheek now rested against his stubbly jaw and sighed. "Was your first time a disaster too?"

"Actually, no. My first time was a week before my 16th birthday and she was an older woman."

"How much older?" she asked as she turned to look at him.

"Almost two years, she was 17."

"Alexis' age," Kate said before she could stop herself.

"Oh God, don't say that!" he exclaimed rubbing one hand across his face.

"Sorry," she said sincerely as she rubbed his arm. "Tell me more about your older woman."

"Which one? My first one or the cougar who taught me how to treat a lady?"

"Both," she said after she turned back around and rested against him.

"My first was 17 and she had some experience. She wasn't the school slut or anything but she certainly taught me a couple of things. There were a couple of others in high school, I was a teenage boy after all. I thought I knew everything when I went to Europe after I graduated. Mother had a play in London and I thought I would tag along before I started college in the fall. I met this woman, Anna Williams, she was in her late 30's and she was a very good teacher. I already knew the basics-"

"Insert Tab A into Slot B?" Kate joked.

"Katherine Beckett! I'm shocked."

"Yeah, I'm sure," she smiled as she snuggled a bit more into his arms. "Tell me more about Anna."

"She was a widow and her husband left her with enough money she never had to work."

"So she went around Europe deflowering young boys?" she joked.

"Oh that flower had already been plucked and I was legal so I was not a 'young boy' at the time.'"

"Whatever stops your tears, Writer Boy." Kate joked unable to resist.

"Hardy-har-har! And it's Writer _Man,_" he insisted.

"Uh huh."

"Anyway," he said loudly over her giggles. "She was not a perverted old woman on the prowl for young men. She was beautiful, very smart, and had this air about her that just screamed confidence. The three things she loved the most were helping those less fortunate, traveling, and art. Mother and I attended a Starving Artist Benefit and that's where I met Anna. She immediately enthralled me. The way she smiled at me and talked to me as if I were an eligible suitor made me feel like I was the only man in the room."

"So then you hit on her?"

"I guess you could say that. I asked if she was single and then she led me to a more secluded area and ask me how old I was. I proudly told her then I asked how old she was. She quickly informed me that it was not polite to ask a lady her age and that she was willing to help me become more debonair."

"She showed you how to be a pick up women." Kate chuckled, "Is that all she taught you?"

"Umm, not exactly," Rick paused, "Anna taught me that there is more than one way to please a woman," he said not really wanting to get into too much detail.

"Did you ever see her again?" Kate asked neutrally.

"Yes," he admitted, wishing that he could see the look in her eyes to see if there was any jealousy there. "I was at a book signing here in New York and she showed up. Caught me completely by surprise."

"Did you, um pick up where you left off?"

"No. We went out to dinner, I escorted her back to her hotel, said goodnight, kissed her on the cheek and left. I was married to Meredith at the time, Alexis was a tiny one, and while my marriage wasn't the best, I was trying to make it work. Besides, one of the things that Anna taught me was to never, ever cheat on a woman."

"You never?" Kate turned to look into his eyes as she spoke.

"No. I didn't before I met Anna either but after Meredith cheated on me I knew how bad it felt so I made a point to never do that. I've never caused a woman to cheat either," he said then looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, other than a kiss. Or two."

"If those kisses were anything like that kiss in the car..." Kate paused when she realized that he had kissed her while she was still with Josh. "The undercover kiss?"

"Yes, that kiss was one of them. You were with still with Josh and I know that we only did it to distract that guard but I still felt a little guilty. You've seen pictures of the other one, when I kissed Kyra even though she was engaged. And I swear, Kate, it was just a kiss. Neither of us pushed for anything more than what you saw in those photos."

"I know, I believe you," she said as she ran her right hand down his left bicep. "Was that the last time you saw Anna?"

"Yeah. I called her up right after Meredith left and her son answered the phone."

"Her son?" she asked, unconsciously putting emphasis on the pronoun.

"Yes, her then 20 year old son who is only 6 years younger than I am. Anyways, he informed me that Anna had been killed in a car accident the week before."

"I'm sorry."

"I was too. I know nothing would have really happened but I would have liked to talk to her again. And thank her."

Kate fell silent for a bit thinking about how he had only been with more experienced women and how she wasn't going to live up to his expectations.

"Tell me what's bothering you," he said as he felt her tense up slightly.

"What makes you think something's bothering me?" she asked.

"The most valuable thing that Anna taught me was how to watch a woman, read her body language. I felt you tense up, your breathing changed, and your hand stopped stroking my forearm. That's how I know."

"I've never done anything like this before, I don't know where to begin."

"Was your second sexual encounter better than your first?"

"Well, I was sober for it," Kate laughed, "I never had time or the desire to date much until after I joined the academy, I met a guy and it seemed to be going pretty well. We didn't sleep together until graduation night. He was more attentive than the first guy and he lasted a lot longer but after it was over, he was so disappointed that I didn't climax, he left immediately afterwards and I never saw him again. That's what made me start faking it. I had a couple of trysts after that but it was just meaningless sex. The first guy to ever show me any real attention and talk about having a future with me was..."

"Sorenson?"

"Yeah," she said. "We were together for quite a while and he was the first guy I felt comfortable enough with to try new things..."

Rick covered his ears and sang out, "La La La Laah! I don't need details."

Kate laughed and smacked Rick's thighs, "Do you want to talk about something else?"

"No, but now that you're talking about men I've actually met... It's kind of weird."

"OK, no more details. Will really tried but was unsuccessful and it was the same with Josh."

"Wait... You never slept with Demming?"

"We were going to the weekend you left for the Hamptons, but we broke up and I didn't go away with him."

"You broke up with him _before_ I left?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Why... why didn't you tell me?" he asked surprised.

"I was going to but then Gina walked up."

Rick enveloped Kate in a tight hug, burying his face into her neck. "You were going to go with me, weren't you? I'm such an idiot."

Kate reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. "It's not your fault, Rick. I was the one always pushing you away and I turned down your invitation several times. How were you supposed to know I'd changed my mind?"

"I should have stayed and fought for you," Rick said. "I promise I'll never leave you again."

"I do understand why you had to go," Kate said glancing up at him a bit shyly.

"It killed me to see you with him, Kate.' Rick confessed, "I wanted you to be happy, but I wanted to be the one responsible for that happiness."

Kate raised her head so she could look into his eyes, her hand slid from his cheek, down to his chest. "You are, Rick. You make me happier than I've ever been."

Rick leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. "You make me extremely happy as well." He smiled and went to pull away but Kate twisted around to face him and crashed her mouth to his.

When Kate finally broke the kiss she looked deep into Rick's eyes, and softly spoke, "Teach me."

"Teach you what?" he asked, his hands trailing from her shoulders to her elbows.

"You said Anna taught you other ways to please a woman, teach me."

"OK, turn back around and get comfortable," he requested as she settled back into his arms. "What do you think of when you are alone?"

"Being with someone who can make me totally fall apart."

"What do you do?" he asked as he kissed her neck.

Kate tilted her head to the side, giving him greater access to her neck and fumbled for words. "Martha... and ummm... Alexis?"

Rick halted his assault on her neck and gazed into her eyes as he answered her half asked question. "They're not here and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon."

"Good," Kate said. "Um, I usually start by playing with my breasts."

Rick reached up with one hand and cupped her breast, his thumb running over her nipple. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let his hands take over. He watched her carefully as he lightly squeezed his hand around her still covered flesh. Her breathing hitched as his fingers found her nipple. Seeing that she was okay with that, he slipped his other hand lower, tugging gently on her sweater. Kate sucked in a quick breath as his fingers found their way under and discovered the front hook on her bra. His fingers then tweaked her nipple causing her to gasp slightly.

"Do you like that?" he whispered.

"Yes," Kate breathed.

"You need to tell me what you like, Kate. Tell me what you want."

"But you're a mind reader, remember..."

"It's so much hotter when you say it," his voice rumbled in her ear.

She bit her lip before she spoke, "I want you to touch me."

"I am touching you."

"Lower," she said as her hand found his wrist and pulled it down.

Kate felt her body lift against his chest as Rick took a deep breath before he eased his hand under the waistband of her slacks, his fingers barely touching the hem of her panties.

"Oh, Rick."

"You like that," he said, more as a statement than a question.

"Yes," she breathed as his other hand popped the snap on her pants.

"Oh, Kate, I've dreamt of this for a long time," he said as he unzipped her pants then easing both hands to her waist, urging her to lift her hips.

"So have I," Kate admitted as she let him push down her slacks to reveal her green lacy panties.

"Tell me about those dreams. What am I doing to you?" he asked as he slid her pants past her knees.

"You tease me," Kate laughed.

Rick let his fingers tickle Kate's thighs as they slowly traveled back to her waist. "Don't I always?"

"This is the good kind of teasing though. You cup me and I can feel your thick fingers so close to where I want them, separated by only a thin layer of lace...Ahh! Just like that, yes."

"And then what?" he said as he shifted to make himself more comfortable in his pants that were now tighter.

"Then your hand slides under my panties..."

Rick's hand slipped beneath the lace before she could finish her sentence. "And then my fingers slide down and feel how wet you are for me."

"God, you're good at this." Kate purred as Rick teased her opening and spread the moisture he found there, up the valley of her folds, and then back down for more.

"I'm Jedi like that." Rick joked one final time and then began nibbling on her neck. He waited until she arched into his touch and exposed more of her neck and then he eased one finger into her opening. Kate swallowed her moan and slowly started moving his single digit in and out of her swollen channel. He located her g-spot and pressed against it as his thumb found her clit.

Kate wiggled until she had one leg free from the fabric prison of her slacks allowing her to spread her legs a bit more. "You feel so good."

Rick took that as encouragement and added another finger, increased the speed and depth of his strokes. Kate dropped her chin to her chest as she gasped with the new sensation, her eyes wide as she watched his hand moving beneath her panties. Her breathing was ragged and her body began to tense up, in both good ways and bad. Kate knew she was close but she had never felt quite like this before. The more she thought of how different this was to the times that she gave herself orgasms the more it made her tense up.

"I have you Kate. I won't let you fall," he whispered in her ear. "Come for me Kate."

The orgasm washed over Kate, surprising her with the intensity. Kate's right hand held Rick's hand firmly in place against her as her left hand pulled his free hand to her breast. He squeezed and tweaked her nipple causing Kate to throw her head back against his shoulder. She bit her lip but was unsuccessful in biting back the moan.

"You are so beautiful when you let go," Rick said as he slipped his hand from her panties and simply held her close. He caressed her and just held her as her breathing slowed down. "So, Kate. I have a question for you. Why were you so nervous earlier? And don't tell me you weren't nervous, I can read you, remember?"

"Uh huh," was her only response.

"Oh, Kate," he said with a smile as he looked down at her already fast asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

That next morning, Kate woke with a smile on her face and butterflies in her stomach. Richard Castle had given her something last night that no other man had ever been able to. She opened her eyes and found the object of her early morning musings hovering over her, his happiness written all over his face.

"Good morning, beautiful."

Kate rolled onto her side, facing him, and curled into a ball. "What time is it?"

Rick played with the long strands of hair that were covering Kate's face. "Still too early to get up."

Kate straightened out her legs and moved closer to Rick's warm body. Her hands lay idle against his chest as she looked up at him apologetically. "I guess I fell asleep on you last night, huh?"

"Tell you what," Rick mumbled against Kate's forehead. "I'll forgive you for that if you forgive me for removing your other leg from your slacks and then carrying you to my bed."

"Why didn't you just wake me?"

"You looked so peaceful and I knew you'd had a big... day, and I didn't want to wake you."

Kate laughed at Rick's stumble over words and then came back with her own innuendo. "I've never had such a big... 'day', in my whole life."

Rick couldn't contain his grin as he pondered over Kate's admission. "Never?"

"Never that big," Kate said with a chuckle and then raised her head up off the pillow in search for a kiss. "Can I use your shower?"

Rick wanted to ask if he could join her but he knew that now was not the time to push things. Kate was opening up to him in ways he never thought she would, she was trying, really, really trying to make this thing work and he didn't want to mess things up by saying the wrong thing. "Go ahead, I'll put on a pot of coffee."

"Mmmm," Kate moaned as she leaned in for a quick kiss. "Once again, you read my mind."

They rolled out of the bed and Rick made his way to his chest of drawers and pulled out a pair of socks and clean boxers for himself. "I'm going to take a quick shower upstairs," he opened another drawer and grabbed a pair of jogging pants. "If you need anything, just help yourself."

Kate watched as Rick carried his little bundle of clothing out his bedroom door. She moved over to his closet and grabbed the first shirt she spotted and then practically sprinted to the shower.

Ten minutes later, Rick walked back into his room and nearly dropped the two cups of coffee in his hands when he witnessed a Kate exiting his bathroom. Her hair was wet and curlier than he'd ever seen it before and it appeared that the only thing she was wearing was one of his white dress shirts. "uh...UH... Coffee?"

"Is the Pope Catholic?"

"Well you know, there is this conspiracy theory I read about the other day."

"Castle, shut up and give me my coffee."

Rick chuckled and held out a cup for her. "You want some breakfast?"

Kate took a tentative sip of the hot beverage and turned back towards the king size bed. "I'm not all that hungry yet, can we just..." Her voice trailed off as she climbed back onto his bed.

"Yeah sure," Rick stammered as he made his way to the other side and then sat down beside her. "Anything you want."

They sat in silence for a while, just sipping their coffees and stealing glances at each other, smiling when they got caught. Rick sat his coffee cup down on the nightstand and turned back to Kate. His eyes took in the way her wet hair had dampened the shirt she was wearing, he noticed the three top buttons left undone, and his gaze lingered on her bare thighs just a little too long. Kate cleared her throat and Rick knew he had been busted. "Sorry, it's just that you're so beautiful and naked... in my bed."

"I'm not naked, I'm wearing your shirt."

"I find that even more arousing than if you didn't have on a stitch of clothing."

Kate leaned over to place her empty mug beside Rick's. She could have sat it on the nightstand on her side of the bed, but teasing him was just too much fun. Her movements were slow and her positioning was erotic, one of her knees was wedged between Rick's thighs, her right hand near his left, and her breasts almost rubbing against his bare chest. She sat the cup down and turned her head just enough to catch Rick sneaking a peek down the front of her shirt. Well, technically it was his shirt, but anyways. She let out a sexy laugh and with cat like reflexes, rolled back to her side of the bed.

"You, my dear, are an evil woman."

"Like you didn't enjoy the view, yeah right!"

"Oh, I enjoyed it," Rick started, "But you have no idea how hard it was for me to not grab you and..."

Kate scooted closer, her eyes locked on his lips as she interrupted him. "And what?" Her voice was barely audible as she leaned in to claim his lips.

Rick met her halfway, lightly pressing his lips to hers, he knew there were things that needed to be discussed before things went any further, so he pulled away before she tried to deepen the kiss. "Do you want to talk about last night?"

Kate felt a little hurt when Rick pulled away from her but she knew he was right... they needed to talk first, make out later. "About the things we told each other, or the things that happened afterwards?"

"Any of it," Rick whispered as he wrapped his arms around her. "All of it."

The detective's dainty fingers toyed with the sparse hairs on Rick's massive chest as she recalled last night's events. Her nails lightly circled around his nipple until it hardened and then her palm pressed against the tiny peak. "I'm glad we were open and honest with each other about our pasts. I regret nothing that happened but I do feel bad about falling asleep before I could repay you."

Rick tightened his embrace and buried his nose in her hair. "I wouldn't change a thing, Kate."

Kate turned her head and gave him an apologetic look. "But you were very aroused and for quite a while... I hear that can cause a bit of pain."

Rick turned his head to hide his embarrassment from Kate. He released his hold on Kate and laid flat on his back, throwing an arm over his face to cover his reddened cheeks. "No, I... uh, I took care of it."

The thought of Rick pleasuring himself excited Kate and she definitely wanted to hear all about it. She stretched out along side him and pulled his arm away from his face so that she could use his shoulder for a pillow. Her hand slid slowly down his chest and her left leg eased over his as she whispered seductively against his neck. "Were you thinking of me?"

"Oh, Kate... I've thought of no one else in such a long time." His hand came up to lightly caress her arm.

As she eased her leg further up his thigh, her hand went lower and the she began to nibble his neck. "Was I stroking you?"

"Wooo... wait!" Rick squealed as Kate's hand eased under the waistband of his jogging pants and underwear. He grabbed her wrist just as she took hold of his manhood. "You don't have to do that."

"I want to touch you," she mumbled against his collarbone as she crawled halfway on top of him. "Tell me what happened after you put me in your bed."

"Kate, I've never wanted anyone the way I want you. I'm so afraid of moving too fast or pushing you too far... and then you'll run and I'd never forgive myself."

"I'm not going to run. I want to do this." Kate tightened her grip around his swelling member and bit at the pulsing flesh below his ear. "Please let go of my wrist."

Rick moaned when he heard her pleading for him to let her pleasure him. "You have to promise you'll stop when I say so." He told her, "I do not want to come in my pants like some teenage boy."

"Take them off then."

"No! My pants stay on and you stop when I tell you to or this isn't going to happen."

"OK, fine," she pouted. "I promise. Now close your eyes and tell me about last night."

Rick interlaced the fingers of his hands and placed them underneath his head to prevent reaching for her as she started to stoke him. He watched her hand moving beneath his pants and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep for thrusting into her warm palm. "Oh, God..." he moaned as he forced his gaze to the ceiling. "Last night, after I realized you were asleep, I watched you for a while. Ahh... Nothing creepy, just admiring you as you slumbered peacefully."

"Skip ahead." Kate mumbled as her tongue teased his nipple and she sped up her stokes.

"I, uhh... I placed you in my bed, making sure not to wake you as I covered you up. And then I tiptoed into the bathroom. I left the main light off but there's a nightlight in there and I could see..."

"Were you still as hard as you are right now?"

"Harder... ahh jeez, Kate, I didn't mean stroke me harder."

Kate giggled and relaxed her grip just a little. "What did you see?"

"I saw how affected I am by you and I wanted... no, I needed release. Slow down just a bit, I'll never make it to the end of the story if you... ummm... God, you're good at this."

Kate smiled up at him and craned her head to give him a soft kiss. "Continue the story."

"I jerked my cock to the images of you falling apart in my arms... I can't take it anymore... stop, please stop Kate."

Kate swiped her thumb over the head of his dick and gathered up the precum that was slowly leaking out, she eased her hand out and brought her moistened digit to her mouth. "Mmmm," she purred, as she tasted him.

Rick growled as he reached for her. "You're killing me, woman."

Kate pushed the hair off Rick's forehead and her eyes welled up with tears. "You're not just saying that to make me feel good are you?"

"Hell no! It's the truth," he kissed her furrowed brow and admitted his state of arousal. "I'm a hairshot waiting to happen and it's all because of you."

"Last night, when you talked of the women you'd been with," she paused to take a deep breath, "My sexual insecurities made me doubt that I could ever satisfy you in ways that they did."

"I was afraid of that, that's why I wanted to make sure we focused more on you and your pleasure for a while."

"But that just isn't fair to you," Kate insisted. "You give but you-"

Rick cut off her rambling with a chaste kiss. "Bringing you pleasure, pleases me greatly."

"You're the most selfless man I've ever known."

"That's where you're wrong, Kate. I'm totally selfish. Now that I've kissed you, touched you, and held you in my arms as you climaxed." He took a deep breath, catching the scent of his shampoo on her hair. "All I can think about is doing it again, and again, and again."

Kate sat up on her knees and began unbuttoning the shirt she was wearing. "I want to..."

Rick scrambled up and grabbed Kate's wrists, preventing her from popping any more buttons. "Kate?"

"I want to show you my scars," she told him. "I ready for you to see them."

He released her wrists and allowed her to free the rest of the buttons. She took his hands in hers and placed them at her opened collar and then gave him a nod. Rick kept his eyes locked on hers as he slid the shirt over her shoulders and down her arms. "You're so beautiful," he whispered as his hands traveled back up her newly bared flesh and paused at her neck. Slowly he leaned in and kissed her neck, his left hand moved around to the back of her head as his right journeyed downwards. When his hand encountered nothing but naked flesh, he couldn't fight it anymore; he had to look at her.

"I didn't want to put on dirty underwear." Kate explained when she noticed how shocked he seemed to be that his shirt was the only thing she had put on after her shower.

Kate held her breath when his fingertips reached the circular scar between her breasts and goose bumps broke out when she felt his lips caress the deformity. Her hands came up to wind in his hair and hold him close, urging him to continue. Rick smiled against her skin and let his tongue circle the marred area as his hand moved below her left breast and found the longer scar, lovingly tracing the length of it over and over with his thumb.

He kissed his way back up her chest until he found her lips again. "You're perfect," he started as he pulled away to look at her. "These scars prove your strength," his voice softened as his hand moved back to the center of her chest and stilled, relishing the steady thump of her heart beneath his palm. "Your desire to live."

Rick watched Kate's eyes this time as he let the pads of his fingers map out the evidence of her near death. His left hand clenched in the hair at her nape and Kate closed her eyes and tilted her head back. Her neck called out to him and he couldn't resist. He murmured words of praise as his mouth hovered just a breath away from her skin and then he kissed the pulsing spot just below her ear. "I want to kiss you all over."

Rick ran his hands up Kate's thighs and up her back. He opened his mouth to her and his large hands pressed against her shoulder blades, urging her closer. Kate's legs turned to jello and she melted into Rick's embrace. Her pelvis rubbed against Rick's arousal and her teeth sank into his lower lip, causing him to hiss as the two very different sensations rocked his body simultaneously. "Tell me what you want, Kate."

"I can't... I don't know..."

"Yes, you do. Just talk me through it like you did last night, tell me how you pleasure yourself," he instructed as his hand began to roam her bare flesh.

"My nipples are very sensitive, I like to tease them until I can't stand it anymore and then pull or pinch them between my finger and thumb."

Rick kissed the scar between Kate's breasts and he circled her areola with the backs of his fingers until her nipples stood upright. "Like this?"

Kate's voice quivered as she arched into his light touch. "Yes," she purred, "that's nice."

"How about this?" Rick whispered as he lowered his mouth to her perky nipple and gave it one good suck and then blew across the now moistened area.

"God, yes! Do that again."

"I think the other one is jealous." Rick chuckled as he scraped his jaw over her cleavage and started teasing the other nipple to attention with his tongue. "Kate, I want to touch you," he paused to slide one hand down her torso, over her hip and down her leg.

"I want you to touch me," she moaned, upset when he pulled away to look into her eyes.

"I want to kiss you all over," he said before he gave her some tender kisses around her face.

"Kiss me..." she whimpered as his lips ghosted over hers.

"I want to lick you," he paused to flick his tongue against her earlobe causing a small gasp from her. "Everywhere," he clarified as his fingers eased between her legs.

"Everywhere?" she asked with a shuddering breath.

"Do you enjoy that, Kate?" he mumbled against her skin as his lips blazed a trail down her neck. "Do you like when a man goes down on you?"

"I don't know."

Rick's head popped up and he smiled at her smugly. "You mean no one has ever tasted you?"

Kate gave a small headshake and bit her lower lip as Rick eased a finger into her opening. "You'll be the first."

"Oh, Kate." Rick growled as he returned to teasing her flesh with his lips and tongue. He paused near her belly button and nipped around it and then eased his tongue into the small divot. His tongue mimicking the slow in and out actions of his finger and then his mouth moved lower. He chuckled when her stomach muscles quivered as his tongue made figure eight patterns on the sensitive skin where her leg met her body, working lower and lower, closer and closer to where no man had ever been before.

Kate was writhing beneath him. He added another finger and let his thumb press against her clit as his other hand caressed her breasts, teasing one nipple until it hardened and then switching over to the other. "Rick..." Kate moaned and her hips bucked into his palm, seeking more friction. "I need more."

Rick moved his thumb across her swollen nub, left and right a couple times and then quickly replaced his thumb with his mouth. Gently he kissed her most sensitive spot and then slid his tongue between her folds. He smiled up at her when her legs fell open wider and her hands fisted the sheets. Her eyes were closed, her mouth slightly open and he could see the tip of her tongue copying what his was doing or what she wanted him to do to her nether region. With the confidence of knowing she was ready, Rick plunged his fingers deeper, wiggling them as his mouth latched onto her clit and sucked.

"AHH!... Yesss, God don't stop doing that."

The writer eased his fingers almost all the way out of her heat and then pressed against the top of her vaginal wall, located her g-spot and alternated contact with it from one finger to the next. He felt her body start to shake and her walls clinching his fingers as he strummed, licked and sucked. "Let go, babe." Rick whispered against her mound, "Come for me."

"I'm there, Rick. Just a little more."

"What do you need?" he asked even though he already had a pretty good idea, he wanted to hear he say it.

"Faster, yeah, like that... ah yes... yes suck harder...Fuck! I'm coming!"

When he felt her vaginal walls begin to clench around his fingers he sucked her clit fully into his mouth, his tongue and lips milking the length of it until she drew her bottom lip in between her teeth again to keep from screaming out. Rick ran his free hand up her stomach, her neck, and then his fingers teased her mouth open and he slipped his first digit between her teeth. Kate bit down on Rick's finger as the tremors racked her body in a way she had never felt. "That's it baby, ride it out," he told her as his fingers inside her pulsing channel slowed, easing her down from the intense orgasm. "God, you're even more gorgeous when you come." He rolled from between her legs, discretely wiping his face off on the pillow next to him before he kissed his way back up her body.

"My God. Is it always like that?" Kate choked out, her breath still haggard as she leaned up to meet his lips. She quickly pulled back when she realized she could taste herself on him. Shock, a little embarrassment, and a new sensation that felt something like pride, washed over her and it was that last one that made her crush their mouths together again.

"Well, that is the goal," he said a bit smug that he was able to bring such a strong reaction in her.

"If I knew it was going to be like that, I wouldn't have stopped Will that time he offered."

"Why did you stop him?" Rick asked, not really wanting to hear too many details but knowing that she needed to talk about this.

"I had been working out and was all sweaty. I didn't want him to do that when I felt all gross, I thought about letting him do it later but he never asked again and I certainly wasn't about to bring it up"

"Did he ever ask you to give him oral sex?"

"Castle! I thought you didn't want too many details."

"I don't, trust me," he insisted. "I was just thinking that he wasn't much of a man if he ask you for something that he wasn't willing to give."

"You are an amazing man, Rick Castle." She put her hand against his cheek and looked into his eyes. She thought about everything that they had been through and how maybe it was time for her to admit to her feelings. To him and herself. She leaned in and kissed him, tasting herself on his tongue. Kate pushed in closer to him and felt his erection.

"Will you allow me to return the favor now, Rick?" she asked between kisses.

Rick could feel his resolve slipping with each kiss and each inch her hand slipped down his body. He tried to pull back but she followed him, intent on keeping their mouths fused together.

"Kate," he groaned, torn between what he should do and what he really wanted to do. He had wanted her far too long to keep waiting.

"Rick, I want this," she said. "Please."

He turned and pressed her back against the bed and eased his weight over her, their lips meeting in another heated kiss. Kate's hands continued her explorations and just slipped under his jogging pants to grab his butt.

"Dad, Dad, Dad!" Alexis' voice suddenly called out.

Rick quickly grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled it over Kate's nude body before he realized that it was simply his phone.

"I have got to change that ring tone," he said as he rolled over and picked up the offending phone to read the text aloud. "Plans changed. I'm on the way home. Want me to pick up some lunch for you?"

"What time is it?" Kate asked.

Rick rolled back over to face her, his hand sneaking under the blanket as he replied. "11:30."

Kate sat up and clutched the blanket around her, covering her nakedness. "I had no idea it was that late, I better get going."

"Don't run off, Kate." Rick pleaded with her as she turned her back to him.

"I'm not running, Rick. I really do need to get home." She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled.

"Let me text her and buy us a little bit more time," he said as he gave her a quick kiss and reached for his phone again. He typed out a quick text, tossed the phone to the floor then returned to kissing her. Knowing that Alexis was on her way home, they kept the kisses short but sweet as Kate slowly dressed.

Rick pulled on a t-shirt and walked Kate to the front door, he leaned in to kiss her goodbye, mumbling against her lips. "I love my daughter, I really do."

"She is a great kid." Kate said with a smile as she reached for the doorknob.

Rick covered her hand with his, prolonging her departure as long as he could. "Yeah, it's just..."

Kate dropped her head to his chest and nodded in agreement. "Her timing sucks."

"God yes!" Rick growled, gave her one final kiss and tight embrace, then released her and watched as she headed towards the stairs instead of the elevator.

Kate turned around when she reached the landing, knowing that Rick was questioning her decision to take the stairs. "I'm not dodging your daughter, I just need to burn off some steam."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: I just wanted to let you all know that 4evercaskett, Rayleen, has been reading the reviews and loving them! We would have posted this yesterday but with the problems that was having, we weren't able to. Hope you enjoy this part too. Just to mention, I am using a different software to edit this so if it is wacky, I am sorry about that.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong> - Afternoon Delight

The next few days were nonstop crime solving. Rick and Kate had gone three days without any alone time, a few stolen kisses here and there was the only thing keeping them from killing someone.

Kate and Rick headed over to Q3, her friend Madison's restaurant, to talk to one of the waiters who may have witnessed a murder. They spoke quickly to the man then asked the hostess to see if they could talk to Madison. The hostess led them back to the kitchen and they watched in amazement as people were running every way. Madison was obviously very busy so Rick took advantage of their current situation. He grabbed Kate and spun her around to face him and pushed her back into the alcove.

"I miss you," he said.

"You're insatiable," she said not really complaining.

"Do you blame me?"

"We are here on official police business, now's not the time nor place-" Kate tried to say but his lips cut her off and she was surrendering to him a millisecond later. Her hands slid beneath his coat and she clutched at his shirt. Rick took a step closer and pinned Kate between his hard body and the shelving behind her, his hands dug into her hair as he deepened the kiss, dislodging something.

"Castle!" Kate exclaimed, pushing him off her and checking to see what had fallen off the upper shelf.

"I didn't mean to, I swear!" he said as he looked at the upset detective now nearly covered in maple syrup.

"Do you have a towel?" Kate asked her friend Madison who had turned around and came running when she heard the commotion behind her.

"Sure thing, Becks." She grabbed a towel for her friend, smiling at the duo as she said, "You know, I am back here every day, this is our busiest time of the year, there are people always running around and I never get syrup dumped on me."

"Yeah but you don't have to deal with him," Kate said gesturing to a still apologetic looking Castle.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to knock it over," he tried to explain. "I'll pay to have your coat cleaned."

"If you had been paying more attention to your surroundings, instead of what ever it was you were doing," Madison said.

Kate glared at her friend and threw the sticky towel at her. "Maddy, I'll call you later."

"Looking forward to it!" Madison shouted as the pair exited her restaurant.

They were standing in front of the car before she spoke again. "Oh my God, Castle! It's even in my hair! You owe me big for this."

"I really am sorry. How about you let me to drive?"

"No!"

"I was just thinking that if you get anything on the passenger seat, I can get it cleaned and it will have time to dry before anyone uses it. Otherwise, your drivers seat might still be sticky or wet."

"Fine," she said as she handed him the keys. He opened her door but before he let her climb in, he took off his jacket and laid it over the back of the seat. He smiled slightly in apology then walked around to the drivers side. He glanced over at her once he was settled in the seat. Her hand stopped his from turning the key. "Rick, I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"I deserved it," he began. "It's just so damn hard to keep my hands to myself these days."

"And your lips." Kate said with a forgiving smile. "I have been having the same problem. It will be okay, I just need to call Gates and tell her that we will be a little late getting back to the precinct."

The drive back to Kate's apartment was uneventful and they were soon in her apartment with the door locked behind them. Kate headed to her bedroom but he stopped her and pulled her into his arms.

"Rick," she exclaimed, thinking of his previously non-syrupy clothes.

"I can't resist," he mumbled against her neck, slowly walking them towards her room. "Kate Beckett. Maple syrup. Two of my favorite things."

"You really like this," she said.

"What's not to like?" he asked as he dropped his lips to her neck again. "Hmm, this gives me an idea."

"If you think you are going to dump syrup all over me again, don't."

"You don't like this?" he asked a little surprised.

"I don't mind you kissing my neck but I feel all sticky and gross. I guess since you are enjoying it though-" she started then nearly stumbled as he jerked away.

"Kate this is about what 'we' like, not just me. If you don't like it, I won't push you to do it."

"Even if you like it?" Kate asked

"Yes. And any man who would pressure or guilt you into something that you're uncomfortable with is not worthy of you."

She turned to look into his eyes and placed her hand against cheek. "You are amazing, Rick. Everything has been about me so far and you finally find something you like and I stop you."

"I didn't 'finally' find something I like. I've liked it all so far, Kate. The talking. The touching. The kissing."

"But that's all I've allowed you to do. It doesn't seem fair," Kate said.

"I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't effect me because I think we can both tell that it does," he said as he pressed himself against her. "I'm just willing to wait for you to be ready."

Kate smiled as she gyrated against his hardness. "What if I'm not ready for a long time?"

"Then I'll become even more familiar with my hand." Rick laughed a response to Kate's teasing and then turned serious. "I just so happens that I have this weekend off. Do you...?"

"I'm on call until noon on Saturday then I'm off until Monday," Kate suggested.

"Perfect. How about we go away when you are done?"

"Go away? I don't want to do anything extravagant."

"You deserve it though," he said as he dropped a few kisses along her neck. "I was just thinking about going out to the Hampton's. It's private, secluded, and I have a really big bed."

"Oh, a really big bed?"

"Yep," he said as he leaned in to kiss her. They stumble further into her room as the kisses get more intense. When Kate's back slammed against the bathroom door she reluctantly pulled her lips away from his.

She held him at arms length and took several much needed lungful of air. "You're distracting me-"

"I'm good at that," he mumbled.

"Yes, you are, but I really need to get back to the 12th."

"Ahhh, do you hafta?" he whined.

"Yes, they are probably already wondering what's taking us so long."

Rick gave Kate a pouting look. "I guess you're right," his hands reached out and snagged her by the belt loops, "I am going to help you undress though."

"Cass...el," Kate hissed as she tried to push him away again. "We don't have time to fool around."

Rick lunges back towards her and his mouth latches onto her neck, his tongue cleaning off the syrup he found below her ear. "I haven't seen you naked in days and I'm going through withdrawals."

Kate pushed him away and glared at him for a moment then surprised him when she spoke. "With my clothes being all sticky, how ever am I going to get them off all by myself?"

She laughed at his expression before his nimble fingers began to quickly remove her clothes. Once she was standing there, clad only in her undergarments, she gently pushed him back with two fingers.

"I can take care of the rest, Rick, but thank you," she said as she stepped back and closed the door in his face. She laughed as she heard his head thud against the bathroom door. Unable to stop herself, she pulled the door back open and gave him a quick but steamy kiss before retreating back to the bathroom.

Kate took a quick shower and stepped out wearing a towel but was surprised to not find Rick waiting for her. She quickly dressed then went to the living room to find him walking out from her laundry area.

"I started your clothes for you and I'll take the jacket to be dry cleaned when I leave," he explained. "I really am sorry."

"I know, Rick," she said as she walked up to give him a quick hug then use his arm for support as she put on her heels.

"I saw the opportunity so I took it. You don't know how hard it is to keep my hands off you in public. And in private, forget about it."

"Oh, I think I can tell just how hard it is," she said suggestively as she snuggled a bit closer to him.

"Damn woman, you know how annoying it's going to be to get a cab looking like this?"

"What? You can't leave until my laundry is done anyway."

"Do you have a key that I can use to lock the place up when I leave?"

"Sure," she said as she slipped from his embrace to find her extra keys. "I really need to leave now. Don't snoop or anything."

"I wasn't planning on it," he promised as he gave her one last quick kiss before she opened the door. "There is something else I need to take care of first."

He gently placed two fingers on her shoulder and pushed her out the door before shutting it in her face as she had done to him earlier. Kate paused for a moment before heading to her car. During the whole drive there, she tried to focus on the case but every now and again she would get a whiff of maple syrup scent and her mind would race back to her apartment and what Rick was doing there.

"What took you so long?" Esposito asked when Kate finally walked into the precinct.

"And where's Writer Boy?" Lanie, who was visiting, asked. "I thought he might like to hear about this case."

"Castle and I went to interview a witness. Turns out he was at work at Q3 so we ran into my friend Maddy. The kitchen was crazy and the next thing I know, he pushed me out of the way and right up against a full bucket of maple syrup. Which of course, got everywhere, all over me."

"Maple syrup?" questioned Lanie. "That's almost as bad as caramel."

"So do we need to go look for Castle in the gutter somewhere?" Ryan joked.

"I sent him home. He had something he had to take care of. So where are we on the case?"

x-x-x-x

The rest of the day was busy, practically running all over the city looking for witnesses and suspects and then questioning them. They were finally making some progress when it was simply too late to keep going so they all called it a night. After a quick text to Rick explaining that she was going to go home, Kate went back to her apartment and found her now non-sticky clothes lying on her bed with a note.

I would have put them away but I didn't want to snoop. RC

Kate smiled, rather surprised that he listened to her, then got ready for bed. She put away the clothes and got others out for the morning. Kate finished all her little nightly chores then decided to go on to bed, knowing that she was sure to have a busy day tomorrow. She grabbed one of Rick's old books but fell asleep while she was admiring the photo on the back of the dust jacket.

Kate arrived early at the precinct the next morning but not earlier than the boys, one of whom had left a surprise on her desk. A bottle of maple syrup. Just as she was about to turn around and yell at the two detectives who were valiantly trying, and failing, to hide their smiles, Castle walked in with her coffee. She took it and turned her glare to him when she realized that it had some maple flavoring in it. He glanced down and saw the cup left in his hand and understood her glare.

"Sorry, that one's mine," he said apologetically. "Where are you all on the case?"

"I was about to tell Beckett before she started glaring at us. We have a suspect in the box," Esposito explained.

"What are we waiting for?" she said before she walked off to the interrogation room with Esposito.

"Glad I didn't offer her the maple doughnut that I got," Rick said quietly to Ryan as they both walked into the observation room.

Thirty minutes later, Kate and Esposito walked out with smiles, they had caught the man in a lie before he clammed up and demanded his lawyer. Lanie called with some information for the case that solidified it for Kate.

"So what are you doing tonight, girlfriend?" Lanie questioned once the business details were done.

"I think I am going to go shopping."

"I could use some retail therapy myself. Wanna meet at 5 and catch dinner somewhere too?" Lanie asked.

"Sure," Kate agreed even though she knew that she wasn't going to be buying the lingerie that she had intended on buying. Not if Lanie was going to get a chance to see it. She wasn't ready for that conversation yet. Kate didn't need to worry about it though because, just after dinner, they were both called to yet another crime scene which kept them busy for the next day and a half. Things finally calmed down Thursday late afternoon when Kate got a call from Lanie.

"Hey, Kate. What are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Nothing that I know of, why?"

"I'm gonna need a girl's night after tonight."

"What's tonight?" Kate asked.

"My mom's birthday. And I just found out that my sister got my mom the same thing."

"Just make sure you give your gift when you first get there," Kate grinned.

"Girl, I knew there was a reason I kept you around." They both laughed. "So I'll see you tomorrow night if not earlier, okay."

"Sounds good. Try to have a good time," Kate said already thinking about which store she wanted to go to for the lingerie.

x-x-x-x

Friday passed in a blur of paperwork with no new bodies, giving them all hope that they will actually be able to enjoy their weekends off. Castle came in that morning to deliver Kate's coffee and then took off as soon as he realized it was a paperwork day. Kate was a little surprised at his attitude but figured that he was just having a tough time keeping his hands to himself. They hadn't had any time alone since Monday and she was pretty glad that they had set plans to get together, in more ways than one, for the weekend.

The day passed surprisingly quickly and Kate and Lanie were soon sitting in their favorite booth at The Old Haunt.

"How did the party go last night Lanie?" Kate asked as she sipped her drink.

"Surprisingly well. I got there and Mom was all excited about all of us being home and the gifts and everything. Then I caught a glance of my sister and she had this smug look to her face. I knew then that she planned all along to get the same gift for Mom."

"That's terrible."

"Yeah, she can be such a bitch," Lanie said, making Kate glad that she hadn't been drinking at that moment. "You don't have siblings so you don't know about them but trust me, my sister can be. You know those signs that say stuff like 'The Occupant is...' and you can change the last work to 'In', 'Out', 'Sleeping' and such?

"Yeah."

"My parents, my parents mind you, in high school bought her a personalized sign for her door that said 'The Bitch is...' My parents bought that."

"What did she say about that?"

"She loved it. It became her favorite nickname." They both laughed.

"So about the gift?" Kate prompted.

"As I said The Bitch was already there so after I gave Mom a hug, I faked a coughing fit. Mom turns around sees my sister and ordered her to get me something to drink."

"You couldn't just ask her?"

"If I asked her, she would have refused. No way she would refuse Mom. So as soon as my sister was out of the room, I pulled out the gift and insisted that she go ahead and open it right then. I'll just say that when my sister came back in the room and Mom was wearing the earrings I gave her, she was pissed!"

"And you loved it."

"I sure did," Lanie said as they held up their drinks to toast. "So, girlfriend, what's got you so excited for this weekend?"

"It's just that this has been a crazy week. I'm glad I'll have time to relax."

"Relax?" Lanie questioned.

"Yes. Relax. You know staying in bed as long as I want, just doing nothing."

"I have a feeling that you have more planned than nothing but if you don't want to share with your best friend, I understand," Lanie said, acting hurt.

"Lanie," she said part of her wanting to share, the other part wanting to keep this to herself for a while yet.

"Promise me that you will tell me all about it later?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'm going to go get another drink," Lanie said.

Moments after Lanie left, Kate's cell phone started playing "I'm Too Sexy." She looked at it surprised until she saw that it was Rick. He must have changed it that morning before he left for the day.

"When did you change that ring tone?"

"Um, this morning," he said surprisingly quiet.

"What's wrong?" Kate asked suddenly concerned.

"I hate to do this but I have to cancel our plans."

the end of chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes: Sorry that this post is so late. The site was down again so I couldn't post. I will be getting to replying to the reviews in the next day or so but I can promise you that we are both loving them. I understand if things cooled down a bit in the last part but this one should heat back up a bit at least.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

Kate sat there rather shocked for a moment before she could finally speak. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Alexis is sick. She keeps telling me that I don't need to stay with her but-"

"She's your daughter, Rick. You need to take care of her."

"It's just that we had plans."

"That's okay. Alexis is very important to you," she started.

"So are you, Kate," he said softly.

"When I was her age, I told my parents that I didn't want them around when I was sick but I was always glad that my mom never listened to me."

"Sitting on the couch watching Temptation Lane?" Rick said, finally with a bit of a smile to his voice.

"Under my favorite blanket," Kate added with a smile of her own.

"So, it's okay?"

"Of course, it's okay. Tell her that I hope she's feeling better and if there is anything that I can do to help out, she is more than welcome to call me. Anytime."

"Thank you Kate, for everything. I'll let her know and make sure she has your number."

"Lanie is headed back this way so I'll let you go," Kate explained.

"You know, I could just keep you on the phone and see how much I can embarrass you," the smile now obvious in his voice.

"No, you can't," Kate insisted.

"Yes, I can," he teased.

"I'll just hang up on you."

"Oh, now, Kate you wouldn't do tha-"

Kate smiled as she clicked the phone to end the call. She knew that he wouldn't be upset but she did suspect that he would call right back. She quickly thumbed the ringer off as Lanie sat down.

"Who was that?" Lanie asked.

"Castle. I had told him that I was going to go in tomorrow morning and he was going to bring me some coffee. He wanted to let me know that he isn't going to be though because Alexis is sick."

"So I guess you will have to walk the, what ten feet, to the break room by yourself to get your own coffee?"

"Be nice Lanie or I won't give you any more ways to trick your sister."

Kate and Lanie enjoyed their night but they didn't stay out too late because of work the next morning. Kate managed to get quite a bit of paperwork done and when she was headed out she decided to give Rick a call.

"Hey, Rick. I'm on the way home. Is there anything that I can stop by and pick up for you."

"No. Alexis is still sick as a dog and I just had something delivered."

"That sounds good," Kate said as she climbed in her car.

"I thought so too until Alexis smelled it and took off like a shot," he said a bit ruefully.

"Poor thing. Let her know I am thinking about her."

"I will. I really am sorry to cancel our plans."

"Rick don't worry about it. It's fine. We'll just make plans for next weekend."

"Promise?" he asked as he turned and saw Alexis walk back down the stairs. "I need to run. Talk to you later?"

"Sure," Kate promised before the line went dead.

Alexis slowly made her way back to the couch where she had practically spent the whole morning. "I hope I didn't ruin your appetite."

"Don't worry about it, Pumpkin." Rick told her as he followed her to the makeshift bed in front of the TV. "You feeling better?"

"A little bit," she said as she sat down and pulled the blanket over her. "You didn't have to cancel any important plans, did you?"

Rick plopped down beside his daughter and pulled her into his arms. "You know you are the most important thing to me."

"I know that, but if you had plans and you canceled them just to stay here with me..."

Alexis tried to pull away from her fathers embrace but it only resulted in him holding her tighter. "It's okay, there's nowhere else I'd rather be."

The tender truthfulness of his voice didn't do much to ease her conscience so she tried once again to apologize for interrupting his plans for the night. "Dad, I'm not a little girl anymore you don't always have to take care of me."

"I know you're not a little girl but you are and will always be my pumpkin and I'm not here because I have to be... I want to take care of you." He kissed the crown of her head and rubbed a soothing hand over her back. "You know, your Grams still calls me her little boy."

Alexis snuggled into her fathers warmth and laughed at his last statement. "That's because you act like it."

"Hey, kid. I resemble that remark!"

"Dad," she said a bit exasperated but still cuddled up next to him.

"You know, Kate said that when she was your age, her parents were always there to take care of her. When she was younger, she hated it but now she looks back on it and is glad they did." His voice was soft as he tucked the blanket under his daughters chin.

Alexis raised her head just enough to look at the writers eyes as she began her interrogation. "When did you talk to Kate about this?"

"Last night. I called her to-" he stopped suddenly realizing that he nearly told his daughter about his plans for the weekend.

"You two had something planned for tonight, didn't you? And I got sick and ruined it."

"No, not exactly... I, um-"

This time there was no stopping her from breaking free of his hold. She glared at her father and shook her head in disgust. "Dad just stop right there. You know you can't lie to me."

"That's supposed to be my line."

"Maybe but I think we both know who the grown up is in this family," Alexis said with a smile. "So are you two dating now?"

Rick took a deep breath and blurted out his answer. "Yes, we are,"

Alexis yawned and snuggled in tight against her father once more. "Good, it's about time."

"Are you okay with it?" Rick asked.

"As long as you don't get hurt," Alexis said seriously as her eyes drifted shut. Rick looked at her, not quite sure if she was meaning getting hurt while following Kate or having his heart broken.

"I'll be fine, Pumpkin," he said as he gave her a kiss to the top of her head.

x-x-x-x

Kate left the precinct and decided to walk around for a bit since she no longer had any plans. On the spur of the moment, she went to Broadway and lucked into getting a ticket to a play that Lanie had spoken about the night before at the Old Haunt. Lanie's mother had gotten some tickets to see the play 'Stick Fly' and so Kate thought it might be interesting to see also even though she wasn't totally sure what it was about when she walked in.

Kate enjoyed the play but the father in it reminded her so much of Roy Montgomery, that when she left, she stopped to pick up something for dinner then went home, lost in thought. The the rest of the day she was thinking about her mentor and finally that evening she decided that she needed to stop. She grabbed a book of Rick's, the one that she tried to read the other night, and started to read it. Kate got so immersed in the book, like she nearly always did, that time flew a lot faster than she expected it to.

Once she realized the time, she decided that she would just shower and head to bed to read the rest of the book. Normally she would have taken a nice long bubble bath and enjoyed a glass of wine but she chose to simply shower that night. After she dried off and pulled on her comfy clothes, she climbed into bed with her phone and the book. She decided to call Rick and check up on Alexis before she fell back into the world of Derrick Storm. Kate punched his speed dial and pulled the blankets over her.

"Hey, beautiful." Rick greeted the detective. "How are you doing?"

Kate wanted to roll her eyes but her heart wasn't in it so she smiled at the endearment . "Okay. How's Alexis?"

"She finally stopped vomiting about two hours ago and she's sleeping peacefully now."

"That's good." Kate said with a yawn and pulled the blankets up to her chin.

"Are you doing okay?"

"I went to a play this afternoon and got to thinking about Roy. I miss him."

"I miss him too," he admitted as Kate yawned and cuddled deeper into the covers.

Rick heard the yawn and the rustling of what he hoped were her bedsheets. "Are you in bed, Kate?"

"Maybe."

"Are you good and warm?"

"Not yet," she said suggestively.

"What are you wearing?"

Kate laughed into the phone. "Really, Rick? Phone sex?"

Instead of giving Kate a direct answer, he echoed her earlier reply. "Maybe."

Deciding to tease the writer, Kate whispered seductively into the phone. "What would you say if I told you I sleep in the nude?"

"Send me a picture," he replied instantly.

"Castle!"

"Hey, I'm a man and you are a very sexy woman, seeing you naked is something that-" he groaned lightly at the thought of her being stretched out on her bed in nothing but her birthday suit. "Are you really naked?"

"No," Kate answered apologetically, "I have on my favorite sleep shirt and a comfortable pair of panties."

"Describe them to me."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, tell me everything. I especially want to know how they feel against your skin."

"OK..." Kate started out nervously, "My shirt is gray and has NYPD inked across the chest. I've had it since my Academy days so it's very soft and even has a few holes in it. My underwear are also gray, just plain cotton. They are fairly new but one of my favorite pairs because they are just so comfortable."

"The t-shirt is very worn and thin isn't it, Kate?" He paused and waited until he heard a faint affirmative reply. "I bet it feels so good when the soft cotton rubs against your nipples or when you cup your breast over the material."

"Uh-huh" Kate sighed

"Are you touching yourself Kate?"

"Yes, is that OK?"

"It's more than OK, it's Beckett Fantasy Number 5. I want you to listen to my voice and picture me there with you. I love seeing you fall apart but you always bite your lip, so you're quiet. Tonight I want to hear you, so that means no biting your lip to muffle your moans."

"I'll try," she said as she let her lip go from between her teeth.

Rick felt himself getting hard but had no plans to do anything about it, at least not right now. His goal for tonight was to make the love of his life fall apart using just his words and her imagination. He hoped to hear her call out his name as she pretended that her hands were his and he was actually there, touching her and kissing her. That would be enough to send him over the edge later when he took care of things himself. "Put me on speakerphone, Kate. You're going to need both hands free in order to do what I want to do to you."

Kate pressed the speakerphone icon and placed the phone on the pillow beside her head. "What are you going to do to me, Rick?"

'Good,' he thought, 'she's already imagining me there.' "First thing I'm going to do is kiss you. I love to kiss you and I love the way you kiss me. Can you feel my lips on yours?"

"Yes..." Kate breathed out in a barely audible whisper.

"Good. Now I'm going lightly kiss down your neck until I get to that place where your pulse jumps against my lips and when I find that spot, my tongue will circle it ever so lightly before I start sucking very gently." He heard a hum of approval from Kate and that spurred him on. "I can feel you arch beneath me as my hand runs down your side and slips under your gray t-shirt to cup you breast."

"Umm, I love the way you touch me, Rick."

Rick smiled at Kate's breathless confession. "Your skin is so soft beneath my hands and I love seeing your arousal color your flesh." The writer closed his eyes and envisioned Kate's flushed skin. "Take your shirt off, I want to see what I'm playing with."

Kate wasted no time in ridding herself of the cotton garment and tossing it to the floor. "Panties too?" she asked, hoping he would say yes.

"No, leave them on."

Even though she really wanted to remove them, she did as he asked and left them on. Without waiting for his next prompt, Kate cupped herself and pressed her fingertips against her cloth covered clit. "Ooohh, that feels good."

Rick knew what Kate was doing. That's the reason he told her to leave the panties on, he wanted her to feel the sensations of being touched, without actually touching herself. "That's my tongue on you, Kate. Swirling around your clit and sliding through your folds. God, Kate, you taste so good."

Kate groaned, "Don't say things like that."

"But it's true!" Rick explained. "Everything about you is extraordinary."

Kate closed her legs, trapping her hand tightly against her aching core, creating just enough friction for her to want more. "I wish you were really here."

Rick was glad that Kate couldn't see the cocky grin on his face as he imagined her lying there pleasuring herself, wishing he was there. "We're pretending that I am... Remember?"

"Yes, yes we are. Now, where were we?"

"I was just about to ease my fingers underneath your panties and feel how wet you are."

Kate let her fingers do exactly what he had described and when she felt how ready she was, she promised, "You won't be disappointed."

"Oh, God!" Rick moaned. He smiled to himself for just a moment thinking that just a few days ago, she didn't want to let anything happen between them because she thought he would be disappointed. Now she was saying that he wouldn't be. He bit his own lip so that the words that he longed to say again, didn't fly out of his mouth. She wasn't ready to hear that quite yet. "Kate, I could never be disappointed when it comes to you."

"And it's all because of you, Rick. You do this to me."

"Kate, you are so tempting," he said as he unfastened his jeans to free his erection and began stroking himself. "You are so beautiful."

"You can't even see me," she whispered as her fingers circled her clit.

"I don't need to actually be there to know how beautiful you are, inside and out." He cradled the phone between his shoulder and jaw so that his other hand could cup his balls. "I can see you now as my finger slips into your moist heat, you arch your back and your hips pivot towards my hand in search of more."

"Yes..."

"I add another finger and twist my wrist so that both digits rub against your g-spot as I slowly pull out and then hesitate before sliding back in until I'm knuckle deep."

"It's not the same," Kate complained, "Your fingers go much deeper than mine can."

"Let's try something else then, Kate." He took hold of his phone again and slowed his strokes substantially as he explained that shallow strokes can be very beneficial as well. "When my fingers are only about two inches inside you, I will curl them upward until I find the swollen area that feels different than the rest, it feels bumpy. Do you feel it?"

"I think so."

"Make a come hither motion with your fingers, milking the length of the area you've found. You will know if you're hitting the right spot."

"Oh my God, Rick..." Kate purred, "That feels sooo good."

"I know," the author panted as his stokes once again picked up momentum. "I can feel you clenching around my fingers when you get close and right about now is when I like to suck one of your perky nipples into my mouth, sucking gently until your body begs for more."

"More, Rick... I need more now, so close-"

"Oh, Kate, I can smell your arousal-"

"Don't stop, almost there-"

Rick could tell that Kate was close by the way her breathing had changed and judging by the sounds she was making, she wasn't biting her lip this time. He felt his own orgasm approaching but slowed his strokes and waited for her. "Come for me Kate."

"Almost there... So close... Just a little bit... AHHH! Yes! God Yes!"

Satisfied in knowing that Kate had climaxed, Rick tightened his grip and prepared to reach his own release. "Oh, Kate..."

"Richard, darling have you-"

"MOTHER!" Rick exclaimed as he spun his chair around and hid his lower half beneath his desk. "I'm on the phone, here."

"Yeah, and from the looks of it, it's one of those 976-BABE calls."

"MOTHER, PLEASE!"

"Right, right, sorry. I'll leave you to it," Martha said with a smile.

Rick exhaled loudly into the phone when Martha exited his office. "My mother is ruining my sex life."

The silence on the other end of the line made Rick wonder if Kate had hung up on him. He was just about to hit the 'end call' button when he heard her take in a deep breath and moan his name. "Rick, that was amazing."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Kate picked up on Rick's tone and immediately questioned his lack of enthusiasm. "Did you not..."

"No, Mother came in and I didn't get to."

Kate tried not to laugh but when she spoke, it was obvious that she found it somewhat amusing. "I'm sorry."

"You don't sound very sorry." Rick pouted, "You owe me one."

"Tomorrow night, same time, same places... I will fulfill my obligation."

"It's a date." Rick informed her, "I'll lock my door next time."

"Goodnight, Rick."

"Until tomorrow, Kate."

END OF CHAPTER 5


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: First of all I would like to apologize for the delay on this one. You know how when you think everything is going okay, you kinda get the rug pulled out from under you? Well yeah, that happened a bit.

Second, I would like you all to leave as many reviews as possible because my partner in crime 4evercaskett checks them each morning before she goes to work and it just makes her day. I know she's already at work now but it will give her something fun to see when she gets home at least. We have 63 reviews, 45 favorites, and 166 story alerts. Lets see if we can get a bunch more today. I know that helps me write and I think you will like the next chapter.

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><p>Chapter 6<p>

It was still dark Sunday morning, when Rick woke up with a pounding headache and a very upset stomach. He stayed in bed for a while and tried to convince himself he was not going to be sick. Sometimes he could convince himself that he wasn't sick but this time the virus was stronger than he was. He knew that he was going to have to get up but as soon as he sat up and put his feet on the floor, the room started spinning and his stomach started lurching. "Oh damn!"

Later that morning, Alexis came barreling down the stairs, all chipper and healthy. "Dad?" she called out when she noticed her father wasn't in the kitchen preparing breakfast as he usually was.

"Where are you?" She walked towards his bedroom calling out for him and saw that his bed was in total disarray and empty. She looked to the bathroom and even though his bathroom door was shut, she could tell that the light is on. "Oh no, you're sick now aren't you, Dad?" the youngest Castle asked through the closed door.

"I'll be fine, Pumpkin. Just give me a minute," he said, trying to sound as healthy as possible.

Alexis listened at the door for a minute longer and then turned to leave. "Take your time, Dad. I'll be in the kitchen."

Rick sat in the cool floor with his back to the wall, his head resting on his knees as soon as he pulled them to his chest. After a few deep breaths and slow movements, he made it to the sink, washed his face and brushed his teeth. The cold water made him feel a little better so he quickly changed into more presentable clothing and made his way to find his daughter.

"You want me to make you something to eat, Dad?" Alexis ask as soon as she noticed her father walking towards her.

He felt his stomach churn at the mention of eating and couldn't hold back the grimace, "Nah, I think I'll just have some juice."

"Are you sure? Because I could make you a s'morelet," Alexis said with a smile. Her smile quickly disappeared when her father turned an interesting shade of green, before he turned to run back to his bathroom. "I'm sorry!"

Sometime around noon, Rick's text alert rang out. He seriously considered ignoring it out of fear that stretching his arm out to retrieve the phone from the coffee table would induce more vomiting. Alexis knew exactly how he felt and she knew what he needed. She grabbed his phone and handed it to him then scooted the small trashcan closer to him. "Thanks, Pumpkin."

Alexis leaned over to kiss her dad's forehead like he had done her many times last night. "You took care of me yesterday, now it's my turn to take care of you." As she was pulling away, she innocently glanced at the message he was reading on his phone. She shook her head, "Kate doesn't know you're sick?"

"No need for her to know."

"According to that text, you guys have something planned for tonight and she's really looking forward to it."

Rick blushed, "Oh, uh... it's not what you think, Alexis."

"Sure it isn't, Dad."

"It really isn't," he mumbled under his breath when she gave him a perfect Beckett eye roll.

"Tell her or I will."

"Fine!" Rick pouted, "I'll let her know I'm sick." He typed out a message and then turned his phone so that Alexis could read it before he sent it.

"Seriously, Dad? You didn't tell her you're sick, you just said you can't talk right now because I'm looking over your shoulder." She pulled out her phone and pressed several buttons. "There, I told her that you're sick and will have to reschedule your date."

"Did you say 'date?'" he asked a bit nervously.

"No, I said 'plans'. Have you not told her that you told me?" she asked incredulously.

"It didn't come up when I talked to her last night," he said as he settled back into the couch. "You still shouldn't have said anything to her."

"Why not? She deserves to know that you-" she stopped when her phone beeped at her. "Hang on, she just sent me a text."

"What does it say? Let me see it. Is she mad?" he asked nearly jumping from the couch before grabbing at his stomach.

"Calm down before you start throwing up again. She just wants to know if she can do anything."

"She's so thoughtful and beautiful," he said as he relaxed then lowered his voice. "And sexy as Hell."

"LAH LA LAH LA!" Alexis shouted, "I don't need to hear anymore and I think it's time for more medicine."

"I'm feeling much better, I don't think I need anymore medicine."

"You're still feverish so you are going to at least take more Tylenol."

Rick stuck his lower lip out like a child would do and gave his daughter a sad look. "I want the cherry flavored liquid kind."

"You want a Popsicle too?" Alexis laughed.

The manchild nodded his head and snuggled deeper into the couch. "Yes, please."

Rick fell asleep not long after he finished his frozen treat and Alexis tucked the blanket around him before grabbing a book and settling into the armchair closest to him. Her phone vibrated in her pocket as soon as she got comfortable and she sighed in frustration as she flipped the device open. "Hello?"

"Alexis, can you talk freely?"

"Yes, Detective Beckett, Dad's asleep."

"How is he?"

"He's doing a lot better than he was this morning. He hasn't vomited in about two hours, he's still running a low grade fever but he's sleeping peacefully."

"That's good. I know you don't want to leave him but if you need anything, I can run to the store for you."

"We're out of his favorite cherry Popsicles but we have plenty of other flavors."

"Okay, but the offer still stands."

"Thanks. I'll tell him to call later if he's feeling up to it."

"Sounds good. Just don't overdo it yourself Alexis. I'm sure he can't be an easy patient."

"I won't over do it," she promised. "And he can be a surprisingly good patient at times."

"Really?" Kate asked shocked.

"As long as you baby him," Alexis said as she looked fondly over at her sleeping father.

"Now that sounds about right," Kate joked before they said their goodbyes.

Rick woke several hours later feeling like a brand new man. His ribs and throat were sore from all the throwing up but other than that he felt great. "What time is it?"

Alexis marked her place in her book and placed it on the coffee table. She glanced at the clock on the far wall as she moved closer to her father. "It's a little past two. Do you think you can eat something?"

"Maybe some crackers and a Gatorade."

Alexis opened a can of chicken noodle soup and warmed it up, hoping he would at least try to eat more than Saltines. She brought the soup, crackers, and Gatorade over to the couch and took a seat next to her dad. "Kate called while you were asleep."

"She called you?"

"Yes, she wanted to know how you were doing and if you were being a big baby." Alexis laughed aloud when Rick gave her a disapproving look. "Don't worry, Dad. I told her you were behaving."

"Good girl." Rick commended her, "She calls me a child enough as it is."

"I think your childishness is one of the things she finds endearing about you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, I mean, she loves to tease you about periodical immaturity, but she wouldn't have you any other way."

"You really think so?

Alexis grinned at her father and brushed the hair off his forehead. "I know so."

Rick managed to eat a few spoonfuls of the soup and several crackers. When he finally pushed the food aside, Alexis ask if he wanted to watch a movie. "Sure, just as long as it isn't too gory."

"Anne of Green Gables?"

"Excellent choice, Pumpkin."

The duo cuddled on the couch through four hours of Anne Shirley's antics and then Rick asked Alexis if she would order some pizza while he showered. "You must be feeling a lot better if you're wanting pizza."

"I think that after a long, hot shower, and some real food, I'll be good as new."

"Off you go then, I'll take care of the food, you get cleaned up."

"Best daughter ever!" Rick beamed as he hugged Alexis and then retreated to his luxurious shower.

After successfully eating a couple of slices, Rick informed Alexis that he felt like writing. He had to promise Alexis that he wouldn't try to walk up the stairs if he needed her, he would just call or text her. She made him pinky swear on it before she headed up to her room and he to his office. "Don't stay up too late, Dad."

Rick was soon lost in the world of Nikki Heat. He typed with a smile as the scene he envisioned became more real with each word. The scenario he was currently working on was of an injured Jameson Rook with his favorite Detective is by his side, taking care of him.

_Jameson had never seen this side of Nikki. The way she was looking at him and the gentleness in her touch as she changed his bandages was so enduring, so tender, and very loving._

_"Am I hurting you?'" she ask the writer when she noticed the look on his face._

_"Not at all," Rook whispered as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer. "You play doctor better than anyone."_

_Nikki laughed at the innuendo, gave him a chaste kiss on the lips and then sat back upright. "No funny business until these ribs heal, you know that."_

Kate decided to call Rick later that night, not really expecting anything other than simply checking in on him. The ringing of his phone broke his writing trance and he glanced at the clock just before answering the phone. 'Ten o'clock already?' he mumbled his disbelief, 'I've been writing for over two hours.'

The sultry voice of his muse came through the earpiece before he could even say hello. "Hey Rick. How are you feeling?"

"Hey, beautiful," he said as he saved his file and sat back to talk.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you are," he said simply his smile growing larger when he could practically hear the eye roll over the phone. "I'm feeling a lot better."

"That's good. Have you eaten any real food today?"

"Yes, Alexis and I had pizza about three hours ago." The writer informed the detective. "I felt so much better afterwards that I came to my study and I wrote for two hours."

"The newest Nikki Heat?"

"Yep. Nikki is taking care of Rook after he gets out of the hospital," he explained but not going into any details.

"Is he being a big baby like someone else is I know?"

"Who?" he asked.

"You, silly. And don't even claim that you aren't. I spoke to Alexis earlier," Kate informed him.

"Uh. What did she say?" he asked a bit worried about what she might have mentioned.

"Just that you are a surprisingly good patient as long as you are babied."

"What's wrong with being babied when you're sick?" Rick asked.

"There is a difference between taking care of someone and babying them," Kate said.

"I know. Mother never babied me when I was sick as a kid. She didn't have time and the nannies, we'll just say that I'm glad they didn't try to baby me," he said with a shudder.

"I'm not going to baby you but I would like to take care of you." Kate said softly.

"I really am feeling better, Alexis was a great nurse."

"No, Rick. I want to take _care_of you."

"Oh," was all he was able to say.

"We did say same time, same place last night," she commented. "And if you are feeling up to it-"

"That we did and I'm most definitely up for it. Hold on a second," Rick smiled then stood up and went to lock his door. He sent a text to Alexis. - 'I'm going to head on to bed. Goodnight, sweetheart.'

'Goodnight, Dad.' Alexis replied quickly.

"I'm back, Kate."

"Did you go and lock the door?" she grinned.

"Damn right." They both chuckled. "So tell me Kate. What are you wearing?"

"No, Rick," she said in a sultry voice. "What are _you_wearing?"

"Kate, that's my line." he whined.

"Not tonight it isn't," she insisted.

"What I mean is, you don't have to-"

"I want to," she interrupted him.

"As you wish," he said causing her to pause a moment to think.

"Richard?" Martha's voice suddenly called out.

"Mother! I'm on the phone," Rick shouted at his closed and securely locked door.

"I figured you were and I see that you locked the door this time." The elder redhead chuckled as she wiggled the doorknob. "I just thought I would let you know that I was going out and I won't be back until late."

"Fine, goodbye Mother."

"Goodnight, son and don't run up the phone bill too much."

Rick groaned and heard laughing from both the other side of the door and over the phone.

"It really isn't funny, Kate," he pouted.

"Yes it is. At least you have your pants on tonight," she couldn't hold back the giggle.

Rick groaned into the phone, "Can we please change the subject?"

"Are you hard?"

"Not completely, but I'm getting there."

"Good, I want you to touch yourself but I want you to do as I say, when I say."

Rick unzipped his pants and moaned as he freed his growing erection. "I'm loving this already."

"Wrap your fingers around your cock but gently," she began as she slipped her hand under her panties. "My hands aren't as strong or as large as yours so my grip will be different. Keep your hand at the base and keep it still."

"But Kate," he whined.

"Oh, don't worry," she chuckled. "I have a feeling you're gonna enjoy this next part."

"Bring it on, detective."

"Lick the webbing between your thumb and forefinger of your free hand." She could hear him following her instructions and it turned her on even more. "Take that hand and close it around the head of your cock. Don't let that hand go down too far."

"Why not?" he moaned.

"Because I want you to imagine that hand is my mouth and I don't know how much of you I can take."

"Oh God Kate," he groaned as he began moving his moistened hand, imagining that it was her mouth on him.

"Can you feel my tongue circling the tip?"

"Yess..."

"Tasting you?"

Rick didn't reply but Kate could hear him breathing harder and knew that he had picked up the speed of his strokes.

"Mm, you taste good Rick." Kate drew out on a moan as she remembered how he tasted.

"Kate." Rick's voice was heavy with arousal as he realized that she too was close to release.

"You do Rick. Remember how I touched you last week but you made me stop because you didn't want to come in your pants?" She smiled at the groan Rick wasn't able to hide when she said the word come. "I wanted to take your cock in my mouth and milk you with my tongue."

"Kate, I'm so close."

"Do you feel my mouth sliding down your shaft? Your fingers in my hair guiding me, showing me what feels good to you."

"It all does," he gasped.

"You're encouraging me to take more and I do. I hollow my cheeks and swallow as much of your length as I can. I spread your legs wider and cup your balls with one hand, keeping the other hand at the base of your cock as my head bobs up and down."

"Please, Kate...' The writer begged shamelessly for release.

"I can tell you're about to lose it."

"I am," he said struggling to hold back.

"I want to taste you now, Rick. Come in my mouth."

"Oh Kate! God, Kate. Yes... Yess!... YES!" he chanted as he finally let himself climax and Kate soon followed.

Kate quietly rode out her orgasm as she listened to Rick shout out his. She felt so powerful, so in control, and so loved... it was time to confess. "I need to tell you something but I want you to wait until I'm finished before you say anything. OK?" She took his silence as an agreement so she continued. "I heard you tell me you love me when I was shot. I told you I didn't remember because I was afraid of so many things. Afraid you only said it because you thought I was going to die, afraid that you did mean it and I wasn't good enough for you, and scared to death that it was going to ruin our partnership."

The line was quiet for a couple minutes after Kate finished her confession and she was beginning to wonder if he had hung up on her. She pulled her phone away from her face to make sure that the call hadn't been disconnected and sighed when she saw that the line was still open.

"Rick, say something." Her request was followed by more silence, "Please don't hate me, talk to me, tell me how stupid I am and how angry you are... Tell me you can forgive me."

Kate had tears rolling down her cheeks by the time she said those last six words. She was hurting and couldn't take any more of the silent treatment he was giving her. She pulled the phone away from her ear again and saw his smiling face still flashing on the screen. Now she was angry. She had opened up to him and he ignored her. "Damn it!" Kate swore as she threw her phone against the wall, breaking it into three parts.


	7. Chapter 7

Authors Notes: 4evercaskett would like me to say that this has been a blast and she has enjoyed everyone's comments. She also says that she takes full blame for the delay.

I don't agree with her taking full blame though. Things have been crazy here at my place also. I have also had a blast with this story and I am looking forward to writing the sequel. I hope that you all have had as much fun reading this as we have writing this.

* * *

><p>Chapter 7<p>

Monday morning, when Rick finally arrived at the precinct, the boys confronted him.

"Dude you are so in the doghouse," said Esposito

"What?" asked Castle.

"Oh that's bad," Ryan interjected with a smile. "He doesn't even know what he's in the doghouse for."

"What are you talking about?" Castle asked honestly confused.

"What ever you did to piss off Beckett." Esposito said.

"I didn't do anything," Castle insisted.

"Maybe that's the problem," smiled Ryan as he met his partners eyes. Esposito nodded then looked back to Castle.

"Just go and apologize right now," Ryan said.

"Bro, that won't work. Lanie always wanted to know _what_I was apologizing for and if I didn't know, it just got worse."

"If you girls are done chatting," Kate suddenly interrupted them. "We have a case."

Rick was surprised that she didn't even greet him so he just followed her not knowing what to do and desperately thinking about what he might have done last night to offend her so. She had quickly taken control of the phone call, insisted on it in fact, so it couldn't be that. He really didn't think that he had accidentally said anything that he shouldn't have said, like him yelling out his feelings for her at a pivotal moment. The more Rick thought about it, the more he couldn't think of anything that could have caused this reaction in Kate.

The woman filling Rick's thoughts was mad, and getting madder as the day went on. Rick was lost in thought and she had to catch his attention several times to get him to follow her or even try to offer an opinion on the case. When he finally did, it sounded totally normal, which for Castle was not normal. He didn't even mention the CIA once. It was obvious to her that he was mad at her for lying to him for months and didn't want to be around her that day. The thing she didn't understand was why he had even bothered to come today if he was that upset.

"Castle," she finally spoke to him when they got back to the precinct. He looked up from his silenced phone, surprised that she was actually speaking to him. "This case looks pretty cut and dry, why don't you just go home."

He opened his mouth to say something but closed it before he said something that he might regret. As mad as she was already, if he brought the phone call up in front of the now silent and watching Ryan and Esposito, she would only become more enraged. Rick simply nodded then left without saying a word.

"Why'd you send Castle home?" Esposito asked.

"He obviously didn't want to be here today," Kate said turning back away hoping that he would get the clue that she didn't want to talk about this.

"That's because it's been pretty chilly in here today," he looked at her pointedly as he sat on the edge of her desk.

"I wasn't the one who was mad."

"Could've fooled me. Did you see the look on his face when you kicked him out of here?"

"Yeah, he was mad."

"Nah," Esposito said as he stood up then leaned in a bit closer to her. "That look on his face? I've seen that same look on your face before."

"What? When?" Kate snipped.

"When he left that summer with his ex."

Kate let her friend walk away and neither spoke for a while until Ryan broke the silence with an idea regarding the case. His idea proved to be a good one and by that evening, the suspect was in custody after a full confession. Kate didn't want to go home that evening so she offered to stay and get all the paperwork finished.

x-x-x-x

Rick was upset at being kicked out of the precinct but he tried to keep up appearances at his loft playing poker with his friends. The writers could tell that something was wrong and that his heart just wasn't in the game tonight. They looked around the table at each other and trying to joke with him about it, realized it was much more than they thought. He hadn't even responded to their teasing.

"It must be about Beckett.," Patterson finally said.

"Huh," Castle looked up surprised to hear the name of the person he was thinking so much about mentioned.

"She's not hurt again, is she?" Lehane asked even though he knew that if she was, Castle wouldn't have been there.

"No, she's fine," he said his gaze dropping back to his cards so he didn't notice the look between the others.

"You know, Rick, I think I am going to call it a night," Connelly spoke up. "I have an early meeting in the morning."

Before too long, Rick was sitting at the poker table by himself. He didn't want to stay in the loft alone though so he left a note for his mother and daughter saying that he was going to go out and he wasn't sure what time he would be back. He was going to take his car but decided at the last minute to just walk around for a bit. He was lost in thought thinking about Kate and if he had somehow done something to ruin what they had. He didn't think that he was pushing her too fast to give more than she was ready for. After all, she had initiated that last phone call. He held on to that thought as it was about the only hope that he felt he had.

x-x-x-x

Kate finally made it home after 10 that night. She had finished all the paperwork for the case, stopped to get a new phone and picked up something for dinner. She put the food on the counter then went to take a quick shower. She dressed and headed back to the kitchen, stopping to turn on the TV. While the opening credits of that days Temptation Lane ran, she poured herself a glass of wine without even thinking. She gathered up her food and carried it over to the coffee table. Kate sat down and relaxed for a moment before her eyes fell on the picture she had of her parents. She knew that drinking when she was upset wasn't necessarily a good idea but on nights like this she made sure she limited herself to two glasses at the most. She very rarely went over that. Her father had not been strong enough to keep to those limits and she refused to let herself fall into that trap. The show was nearly over when she was surprised to hear a knock on the door.

She looked through the peep hole and saw a very somber looking Richard Castle. She unlocked the door and opened it up for him to enter.

"Kate, I'm sorry." Rick exclaimed as soon as he passed the threshold.

"For what?" she asked a bit surprised to see him.

"For what ever I did to make you mad at me today."

"Rick-" she started as she turned to walk into her kitchen. "The only thing you did _today_that really made me mad was when you left without saying goodbye."

"I was afraid to."

"Why?" she asked surprised at his admission but still facing away from him.

"I was afraid that if I said "see you tomorrow" you would tell me not to bother to come back. Listen Kate, I know I should know what I did wrong before I apologize but I honestly haven't a clue what I did," he said to her back. His eyes suddenly widened though when his mind flashed to what he really was hiding from her about her mother's case. He just didn't think that she would have ever found out about it.

"Rick, you didn't do anything wrong other than not bothering to say a word after I spilled my guts to you."

"Spilled your guts about what, when?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Castle," she snapped as she turned to look at him, her eyes flashing with annoyance.

"Kate, I'm not playing dumb. I seriously have no idea what you're talking about." Rick started pacing the floor as he racked his brain, trying to remember if she had mentioned something important. He came to a stop just about a foot in front of Kate and turned to face her. "I have to be totally honest with you, Kate, parts of last night are a bit blurry. You had me so tore up, talking about your mouth on me and you wanting to taste me... Oh, God!" He growled, "Just thinking about it is making me hard."

Even though Kate was still angry at him for his mute act last night, his admission made her heart skip a beat and a tiny smile escaped. "I enjoyed last night too, Rick. But I still don't understand why you ignored me."

"You see, that's where I'm confused," the writer calmly told her. "The last words I heard you say were 'Come in my mouth.', and I went off like a rocket, I made a bit of a mess so I went to the bathroom to clean myself up, and then when I came back to my office and picked up the phone..."

"I had already hung up." Kate interrupted, everything was starting to make perfect sense to her. "You weren't ignoring me or holding back your anger, you were in another room when I confessed."

"Confessed?" he asked with a raised brow and a slight smile before he lightly took her into his arms. "Are we talking about a naughty confession?"

"Rick, I'm trying to be serious here." she said causing his smile to slip just a bit. "I lied to you."

"About what?" he asked.

"About the day I was shot. I remember everything. Everything you said."

"Well, if we are confessing things-" Rick started.

"Oh God, you aren't going to tell me that you didn't mean it!"

"No! I meant it then and I mean it now," he said with uncharacteristic seriousness, one hand gently touching her cheek.

She released a deep breath that she wasn't even aware she was holding. "Then what are you confessing?"

"I already knew that you remembered. Or at least, I seriously suspected that you did."

"How?"

"My first clue was when you came to my book signing, your first day back on the job, you told me that you wouldn't be ready for the kind of relationship you really wanted to have until your wall came down. Why else would you have told me that? Besides, there have been many little things since then that led me to believe that you heard me or someone over heard me saying it and told you."

"Overheard you?" she questioned.

"Lanie and I rode to the hospital in the ambulance with you. Maybe I said something during the ride but I'm honestly not sure. I do know that after you were whisked into surgery, I told Mother that I had finally told you how I felt. Lanie, the boys, and your father were all close enough to have overheard me."

"You told Martha what you said?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah, she's been trying to get me to admit my feelings for you for a while now."

"You've talked to your mom about this?" she said unable to hold back the smile.

"Sure. She is surprisingly good at it," he smiled and pulled her closer still.

"And you aren't mad? That I lied?"

"I wasn't thrilled at first but I knew you had to have had your reasons."

"At first I didn't know if it had actually happened or I had dreamed it. So I didn't want to say anything in case it had just been my imagination."

He smiled a bit, wondering if she realized that she had implied, at least to him, that she had dreamt about him. Rick pulled her a bit closer and let her continue.

"And anyways, at that time, I was still with Josh."

"I understand and respect that. That's the main reason I never told you sooner, but as I held you in my arms and thought about the possibility of that being my last opportunity to let you know... I just had to tell you."

"I understand that now." Kate began, "but when I was shot and while I was in the hospital, I convinced myself that I had just imagined hearing you say those words. During the two months at my dad's though I realized that you really did say it and it scared the hell out of me."

Rick opened his mouth to say something but Kate stopped him. "When I came back to work though, you were already mad at me for not having called you. I didn't want to upset you even more. Things finally went back to normal and I couldn't say anything then, I didn't want you to walk away."

"I'm not going to walk away from you, Kate. Ever."

"Scout's honor?" she asked before she reached up and gave him a quick kiss.

"Even better, I give you my word."

"I'm tired of running from this, from you, us... I'm ready to jump. Rick, I-"

"Kate," he interrupted but the detectives fingers covered his lips and she shook her head at him.

"No, Rick. It's my turn. I love you."

"I love you too, Kate," he said before he tenderly took her face in his hands and kissed her.

Kate smiled into the kiss, her whispered words fell from her lips and Rick swallowed them up as he continued to lightly kiss her. "Feels so good to finally say it."

Rick kissed a path across Kate's cheek and then whispered into her ear. "Feels even better to finally hear it, say it again."

Kate pulled away just enough to look him in the eyes and she smiled as she repeated the three little words that meant so much. "I love you."

"Again," the writer implored.

"I am madly in love with you. Whether you're being Richard Castle the writer, or the perfect father to Alexis, the best son a mother could ask for, my nearest and dearest friend, or Ricky Rodgers, the shy lost little boy that shows himself every now and then. I love you."

Rick nodded and then kissed her softly. "You forgot world's greatest partner. I helped you knock down that huge ass wall, remember?"

"You didn't need to knock it down, Rick. You slipped through the cracks and have been in my heart for a while now."

He took her hand in his and led her to the couch. Kate gave him a questioning look but never said anything as he sat down and patted the cushion next to him. She sat a little further away than he wanted, so he scooted towards her. "I love you, have loved you for a while, and will love you until the day I die."

Kate leaned in, her lips hovering over his. "Prove it."

Rick closed the distance between them, kissing her more passionately than she had ever been kissed. His warm, firm lips caressed hers softly at first, the tip of his tongue teased her lips apart and then he cupped her face and deepened the kiss.

Kate sat up on her knees and used the change in angle to her advantage, she took control of the kiss. Her hands fisted tightly in his shirt so that when she pulled him closer, his head had to tilt up in order to keep kissing her. Rick's mouth opened wider when he craned his neck upward, maintaining their connection, and Kate slid her tongue deeper inside his mouth.

Rick growled but the sound never escaped their fused mouths. His hands traveled up Kate's thighs, one stopped just under her ass cheek and the other slid under the hem of her shirt. Kate broke the kiss when she felt Rick's hand on her bare skin. She opened her eyes and saw nothing but love looking back at her. No doubts, no questions, and no demands. Her breathing was erratic and her voice gruff, "I'm a little disappointed."

"With what?" he nearly squeaked.

"I went out and bought something really nice especially for our weekend getaway and you didn't get a chance to see it."

"That's okay," he started as he removed his hands from her body, placing one on the back of the couch and the other on the armrest. "Maybe we can go away this weekend, unless you have plans already or have to work."

"No plans and no work, but there is one little tiny problem," she teased him as her fingers toyed with the buttons on his shirt.

"What's that?" he asked, itching to touch her again but not wanting to push.

"I'm not waiting that long," she calmly told him as she moved to straddle him, ripped his shirt open, and then crashed her lips to his. "No more waiting," she moaned as she nibbled down his neck. Her voice turned seductive as her tongue teased the pulsing vein in his neck, "I want you..." her lips latched onto that throbbing spot of flesh as her core pressed against another throbbing area, "To make love to me..." she rotated her hips as she continued to mark his flesh, "Tonight."

Rick sat upright and buried his hands in Kate's hair. He kissed her roughly, bruising her mouth with his. His hands traveled down her sides as his kisses eased up. "Hold on," he told her as he wrapped one arm tightly around her and stood up.

Kate wrapped her arms around Rick's neck, and her legs around his waist, her eyes leaving his briefly to check out the love bite near his collarbone. "Sorry," she whispered as her finger lightly traced the very obvious hickey. "Guess I got a little too carried away."

He smiled at her and shook his head, "I love that you're a nibbler, don't apologize for getting carried away or for marking me. I am yours after all and I have no problem with the whole world knowing it." and then he turned them towards her bedroom. "I intend to mark you as well," he whispered against her neck when he stopped at the threshold of her bedroom. "I hope you have no objections to that."

"I'm yours too, Rick, but I don't think the world needs to know just yet. No hickeys where my work clothes won't cover."

"I could say the same to you. Can you imagine how much me getting hickeys will embarrass my daughter and then me when Mother finds out?"

He carried her the rest of the way to the bed before sitting her on her own two feet. "Katherine Beckett, you didn't make your bed this morning." He chastised her as his hands went beneath her t-shirt and eased up her ribcage, smiling at her when he noted the absence of a bra. When his hands neared her armpits, she raised her arms above her head and allowed him to slide the shirt over her head. "Much better than fancy lingerie."

Kate laughed as she reached for his belt buckle. "Stare later, get naked now."

Rick's pants hit the floor just as he toed off his shoes. He stepped out of them and kicked them and his shoes towards the foot of the bed. "God, you're beautiful," he moaned as he sat down on her bed and pulled her between his legs. "Perfection," he mumbled against her breast. He kissed the circular scar where the sniper's bullet entered her chest and tugged her sleep pants over her hips and down her legs. "Extraordinary."

Kate lifted one leg off the floor and placed it on the bed beside him, then the other. She bit down on her bottom lip when her cotton covered core rubbed against his silk covered erection. Rick used his thumb to free her lip and then kissed the reddened area she had created by trying to remain quiet.

"No holding back, Kate." he ask of her as his hand slid down her neck, between her breast, and found her damp center. "I want to hear you."

"I'm sorry, I've never been vocal before."

"Stop apologizing and just let go..." he pressed his thumb against her clit and rubbed up and down, "just be yourself and let me love you."

Kate arched into his hand, rising up to her knees, "I need you inside-" Rick pushed the cotton barrier aside and plunged his middle finger into her heat, causing Kate to hiss out. "YES!"

"Talk to me, baby..." Rick whispered as he pumped in and out of her very ready channel. "Tell me what you want."

"You know what I want." She whined, her hips working against his hand, trying to force him deeper.

"I want to hear you say it though." Rick confessed as he added another digit.

"More, Rick. I want more."

Rick pulled her flush to him and laid her down on the bed beside him, his fingers continued to work her closer to orgasm as he kissed her lazily. "Not yet, Kate," he whispered as he eased his fingers from her warmth and stood up. Kate moaned in disapproval when he pulled away from her but smiled when she witnessed him shed his boxers and then return to her side and pulled at the waistband of her panties. "I want to be inside you when you come tonight."

Kate raised her lower torso up off the bed so that he could ease the underwear over her hips and down her legs. She purred when his hand slowly traveled back up her thighs and settled between her legs. "No more foreplay then, get inside me."

"Patience, Grasshopper." he mumbled against her neck as his fingers slid between her folds and dove into her wetness again. "You're pulsing for me already," he told her as he kissed a trail down to her right nipple. "I can feel you nearing climax."

"Rick, please..."

He pulled the already hardened nub into his warm mouth and teased it with his tongue and lips but halted his thrusting fingers. "I want you to explode around me."

"I will," she promised as she arched into his mouth and hand. "I'm so close already."

Rick rolled further on top of her to give her other breast the same attention he had just paid to its twin. He swiveled his hips until his erection was positioned between her mound and his palm and then thrust towards her. Kate rolled to her right and hooked her left leg over his hips, pulling him closer. They both groaned when the head of his cock nudged past her lips and then retreated.

Kate wrapped her hands around both of Ricks wrists and rolled over, her hair forming a privacy curtain to the world as she hovered above him. She placed both his hands above his head, "No more teasing," she pleaded as she lowered her lips to his and rubbed her damp and swollen heat against the length of his hardness. They both moaned when he finally eased into her opening and Kate bit down on Rick's lower lip when he involuntarily thrust deeper.

"Fuck!" Rick exclaimed, wrenching his wrists free from Kate's grasp, pushed the hair from her face and sat up. His mouth covered hers and he inhaled her gasp as the change in position created a new sensation for her. His hands fell to her waist, guiding her upward as he pulled away and then releasing her as he thrust forward.

Kate threw her head back, her breasts arching towards Rick's mouth each time she rose up. She placed her hands on his thighs, just above his knees, and her fingers clenched and unclenched with each thrust. "You feel so good inside me." she purred as she rode him faster and faster.

Rick kept one hand on Kate's waist to assist her movements but his other eased around to her front and down to her mound. His mouth assaulted her neck, chest, and lips... driving her crazy. "Come for me, Kate." he whispered just before he sucked a perky nipple into is mouth and his thumb pressed against her swollen clit.

Kate's head fell forward and she raised up off of him just enough to allow his hand better access to her throbbing bud. She bit down on his shoulder when Rick worked his jaw from side to side and his teeth scraped and twisted her nipple. Rick hissed when he felt Kate's teeth threatening to pierce his flesh but it only spurred him on, he wanted more. He twisted his body and leaned into her, laying her on her back without breaking their most intimate connection. His arms held his upper body off of her as he took a moment to memorize her. He glanced at the very noticeable teeth marks on his shoulder and then growled at her just before he covered her lips with his and began softly and slowly thrusting. "Mmmm," Kate moaned, "So close... You feel so good."

"You do too, baby..." Rick murmured against her neck as he picked up the pace and power of his strokes. "Can't last much longer..."

"Use your hand and your mouth," Kate panted, "just like before." Rick had to arch his back in order for his mouth to reach her breasts in this position but that also gave his hand ample room to work freely. "Yes!" she shouted as Rick pleasured her internally and externally. "Just like that, don't stop... God, don't stop."

Rick released her nipple with a very audible pop, kissed his way to the other one, letting his tongue tease first and then roughly sucked it into his mouth. Kate tried to pull him closer when her whole body started quivering but he only sucked harder, thrust deeper, and rubbed faster. Out of instinct, she brought a hand up to cover her mouth as she felt her climax approach. Rick heard her slap her hand over her mouth and he kissed his way up her neck. "Come with me," he pleaded as he nudged her hand away from her mouth with his nose. "Let's fall together."

Kate nodded and smiled at him, kissing him harder and moaning louder as his movements became erratic. She wrapped her legs around his waist and buried her face in between his neck and shoulder. Her breath came out in pants against his collarbone and her legs tightened around him. "I'm coming... I'm... Mmphin," The last word was inaudible as she sunk her teeth into his flesh and her whole body spasmed.

Rick felt her inner muscles clamp down on him like a vise and he too lost it. The pain at the base of his neck intensified his pleasure as he shot off inside her repeatedly. He continued to move inside her as she rode out her orgasm and they both caught their breath.

"You were right," he told her as he leaned in for a quick kiss.

He went to pull out of her but Kate locked her ankles behind his back and held him in place. "About what?"

"After our first case, you said that I had no idea how good it would be."

Kate threw her head back and laughed, "And I didn't know either."

Rick laughed with her and then rolled onto his side. Kate gave him a playful shove, forcing him onto his back and then something beeped. "That's my phone," Rick groaned, "I guess I missed a call."

"Richard Castle missed a phone call?" Kate joked

"I was making love to my girlfriend and couldn't hear the phone over all her screaming."

Kate slapped his chest just as the phone beeped again. "Check your phone while I go get us some water." She slipped from the bed, pulled on her robe, causing him to frown slightly, and then headed to the kitchen.

Kate walks back into her bedroom and held a glass of water out to the writer sitting on the edge of her bed the blanket from the foot of the bed lightly tossed over his lap. He was nervously playing with the buttons on his phone. She put the water down on her nightstand before she spoke.

"Was the phone call important?"

"Not really but it made me think of something," he said looking up at her, his hands reaching up to lightly rest on her hips.

"What's that?"

"Birth control," he blurted out.

"A little late to think about that now, isn't it?" she joked as she traced her fingers along his jawline. He took a deep breath but she continued before he could. "I have an IUD. I never can keep up with pills or shots and I don't really like the hormones anyway. This was the best option for me. What made you think about that?"

"It's wasn't a call, it was a text from Alexis," he explained knowing that she would be able to follow his line of thinking. They both knew that Alexis, while very welcomed, was a bit of a surprise. "She sent it somewhere around the time you turned into a vampire."

"I what?"

"You bit me... Twice!" he said, his nervousness gone.

"Rick, I..."

"And I loved it!" he mumbled into her skin.

Kate couldn't believe she had actually broken the skin. Her fingers skimmed over the indentations on his shoulder lovingly. "I've never bitten anyone before."

"That one's nothing," Rick bragged, "check out this bad boy." Kate hissed when he turned his head and showed her the other side of his neck. "I'm proud of this one."

"Proud?" She questioned his wording. "Didn't it hurt?"

Rick took hold of Kate's hands and pulled her down to sit beside him. "The first one caught me by surprise, I've never been bitten before."

"Never?"

He shook his head and smiled. "Nope, never. Well, not since Missy Adams bit my arm in the first grade because I was teasing her. I don't think that's the same thing though. When I first felt your teeth digging into my skin, I tensed, but then the warm wetness of your mouth and the way your body was reacting to me, had me craving more."

"And the second time?"

"Oh, God, Kate..." Rick moaned pulling her closer, "The second time was when you were coming. I felt you clench around me as you bit down and I lost it all control. My heart was soaring and I found myself hoping that you drew blood."

"How can something so obviously painful bring you so much pleasure?"

"Simple," he said with a cocky grin. "I was the one responsible for you losing control."

"I wondered when your ego would come into play and you'd start bragging," Kate smiled.

"I'm not bragging about my skills, I'm boasting my good fortune. I am the luckiest man alive."

"I'm the lucky one," Kate said with a smile as she leaned in for a kiss that turned heated real quick.

"Wait," Rick mumbled against Kate's lips. "You have to see the text Alexis sent." He reluctantly pulled away from her, grabbed his phone and handed it to her. She woke the device and smiled when she read the text.

-_Waited up for you until midnight. Would have worried if I didn't know where you are. Tell  
><em>_Kate Happy Valentines Day from me. -AC_

"I didn't even realize it was Valentine's Day," Kate said at first before realizing something else. "She knows about us?"

"I didn't mean to tell her, she was interrogating me and I cracked."

"When?" Kate asked with a smile.

"On Saturday. She was sick but still not sick enough to weasel that information out of me."

"What kind of interrogation techniques work on you?"

"Very different ones than you would use. She asked if I had broken any plans to stay with her and I said yes before I thought about it. I didn't tell her what the plans were of course, but just that I broke some. She seemed a bit annoyed with me that I stayed so I told her that you were always glad that your parents stayed with you when you were sick."

"And then she asked you when I told you that, huh?"

"Exactly. I wasn't going to tell her. I mean, we haven't talked about how we will tell people or anything so I didn't want to overstep but I just can't lie to her."

"You're such a big softie," she said. He shocked her when he grabbed her and pulled her onto the bed and rolled over on top of her.

"Hey, one of those words is okay to say to a man, the other isn't."

"Wahh," she teased him as she pushed him to lie back on the bed, her hand slid down and cupped his hardening member, proving that she was right on one account and wrong on another.

Rick groaned as Kate continued to stroke him. "Does this mean I'm forgiven for telling Alexis?"

"You may have to persuade me a little more."

"What do I need to do?" he asked suggestively.

"Hmmm, let me think," she said as she leaned over him a bit. One hand reached out to trace patterns on his chest before she looked into his eyes and said. "Teach me more."

The End (for now)


End file.
